NEW DELHI: Even as US, Britain, Canada, France and other nations are deploying warships, chartered ferries, helicopters and even buses for evacuation of their citizens from war-torn Lebanon, India too is gearing up for some action on the high seas.
Four Indian Navy warships on Wednesday docked at Beirut to help, if required, in the evacuation of the estimated 12,000 Indians living in the country, facing the brunt of Israeli ground and air strikes after the Shia Islamic Hezbollah movement abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others on July 12.
The four warships — destroyer INS Mumbai, guided missile frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Betwa, and auxiliary fleet tanker INS Shakti — were in the Suez Canal when they were asked to head for the Lebanese coast.
Though Indian embassies and defence attaches in the region are furiously formulating evacuation plans, it’s yet to be decided where the Indian nationals will be disembarked after they are evacuated from Lebanon.
“Evacuation, of course, is voluntary. It will depend on the people (many of whom work in olive plantations) who want to leave Lebanon. If the number is around 800-1,000, then our warships can bring them all the way back to India,” said the officer.—By arrangement with The Times of India
