Europeans and Lebanese with foreign passports fled Lebanon by the thousands yesterday as the US Navy sent a cruise ship to Beirut to begin the evacuation of some of the 25,000 Americans in the country.
A Greek cruise ship carrying about 700 French citizens and others -- many of them women and children, arrived in Cyprus' port of Larnaca. About 1,000 people were expected to leave aboard the Hual Transporter, a Swedish chartered ship that docked at Beirut port, bound for Larnaca, Cyprus.
Haakon Svane, an official with the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, said passengers were expected to include nationals of Sweden, Finland, Norway and a few Americans, in addition to Lebanese with European passports.
Scores of people who arrived in buses stood under a scorching sun, waiting to board.
"I am extremely sad for Lebanon and for all my new friends here," said Tara Olsson, a 19-year-old Swedish student who had arrived in Lebanon two weeks ago to study Arabic at a private Lebanese university.
"I actually didn't want to leave, but when I heard foreign embassies were organizing evacuations I got worried," she added as she stood among her suitcases.
Leila Issa, a 45-year-old Swedish woman of Lebanese descent who had come to spend the summer in Lebanon, said she would never return to Lebanon.
"I have learned my lesson, this country is hopeless," the teacher said as she helped her 75-year-old mother board the ship.
An American man and his wife boarding the Swedish chartered ship expressed anger at how long the process to evacuate Americans was taking as fighting between the Israelis and Hezbollah guerrillas entered its seventh day.
"I can't wait any more. I'm sorry it's taking them too long," he said.
The man, who said he was from Pennsylvania, said he was too distraught to be interviewed and declined to give his name.
Israel instituted the sea blockade 5km off shore as part of its campaign of retribution after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12 in a cross-border raid.
Lebanon's only international airport has been shut since Thursday when Israeli jets bombed all three runways.
Ali Khreiss, a 46-year-old man said he wished to stay behind and fight alongside Hezbollah but his wife was begging to leave.
"I want to be part of this. This is the first time an Arab country bombs Haifa," he said, referring to the Israel's third-largest city targeted by Hezbollah rockets for the first time this week.
"I will drop them off in Sweden and return," he added.
The Canadian government said yesterday it had arranged for sea vessels to assist Canadians wishing to depart Lebanon beginning today.
A Turkish ship, the Su, left northern Cyprus yesterday to evacuate Swedish and other EU citizens stranded in Beirut, according to the Turkish Cypriot news agency, TAK. The ship was to reach Lebanon later yesterday and take some 450 Europeans to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Mersin, it said.
The US Navy said the cruise ship Orient Queen left Cyprus's port of Limassol for Beirut. Escorted by a US destroyer, it was to join US military helicopters that have ferried a few dozen US citizens to a British base on Cyprus. According to the Pentagon, the Orient Queen can carry 750 people at a time. A US Navy destroyer, the USS Gonzales, will be available to escort the Orient Queen, the Pentagon said.
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