Frigate "Kunduriotis" Prepared for Possible Evacuation from Lebanon. Statement by Israel's Minister for Greek and Cypriot Affairs

Miri Regev's cryptic statement that Israel will turn to Athens and Nicosia for help suggests that it is about the evacuation of Greek citizens from Lebanon.

Concern for the 3,500 Greeks living in Lebanon, mainly in Beirut and the north of the country, is growing as US media reports suggest that tensions could escalate within 24 hours. The Greek Foreign Ministry, for its part, opened an emergency telephone line to provide consular assistance to Greek citizens, although there are currently no requests to leave the region.

At the same time, amid growing concerns about a possible escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, the frigate The naval vessel “Kountouriotis”, participating in the UNIFIL operation off the coast of Lebanon, is on standby. If necessary, the ship will provide assistance in a possible evacuation operation.

However, a statement made a few hours ago by Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev complicates the situation and raises a number of questions about the role of Athens and Nicosia. With her country on alert, Miri Regev said: “If we are attacked, we can call in the Israeli Air Force and sea ​​transports from Greece and from Cyprus”.

The phrase used by M. Regev “sea transports” may refer to some operation to evacuate Israeli civilians from areas at risk of being hit by an Iranian counterattack, but no further details of what the minister said were released.

Either way, the announcement puts Greece and Cyprus back at the center of the Middle East conflict, just months after air exercises south of Crete between Greek and Israeli air forces served as a rehearsal for the Israeli attack on Yemen a few weeks later.

A government source in Nicosia, as reported by ERT, when asked, explained that Cyprus cannot and does not intend to provide military assistance to Israel or any other state, and that it is only about providing Israeli-chartered means for the evacuation of civilians and other humanitarian needs, if such a need arises, explaining that all this does not fall under the project “Estia”which concerns only Gaza.

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