UK sends troops to Cyprus anticipating mass Lebanon evacuation

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LONDON (Reuters) -Britain is moving troops to Cyprus in position to help evacuate nationals trapped in Lebanon, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for diplomacy and an immediate ceasefire to bring Israel and Hezbollah back from the brink.

After Israeli airstrikes brought Lebanon’s deadliest day since the end of a 1975-1990 civil war, Starmer told British citizens to leave while there were still commercial flights.

“It’s very important that they hear my message, which is to leave and to leave immediately,” he told reporters.

The government said in a statement late on Tuesday that 700 troops would travel to Cyprus, bolstering its presence in the area where it already has two Royal Navy ships, aircraft and transport helicopters.

The biggest Israeli airstrikes in nearly two decades against Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have increased fears that nearly a year of conflict in Gaza will expand into a wider war destabilising the Middle East.

“I’m calling for all parties to step back from the brink, to de-escalate,” Starmer said. “We need a ceasefire so this can be sorted out diplomatically.”

Israel’s airstrikes since Monday morning have killed 569 people, including 50 children, and wounded 1,835 in Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad has said.

The foreign minister said half a million people have fled their homes. Thousands of displaced people are sheltering in schools and other buildings.

Israel has said it is shifting its focus from Gaza to the northern frontier, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

(Reporting by Kate Holton, Catarina Demony in London and Urvi Dugar; Editing by Mark Porter, Cynthia Osterman, Shri Navaratnam, Peter Graff)