Several countries are now bringing home their citizens from Lebanon. One of the larger evacuations is being carried out by Australia, which is flying out 500 people with two chartered planes from Lebanon's capital Beirut.
The first group of people has landed on Cyprus and will fly on to Sydney later this week, reports the Australian public service company ABC.
It's very painful and very disturbing. I'm devastated about what's happening in Lebanon, says Nowell Gemayel, one of the first evacuees, to the channel.
The Netherlands is planning to fly out 400 people on Saturday, and South Korea has picked up a group of 97 people with a military plane. The country is also evacuating citizens from other conflict zones such as Israel and Iran.
China has evacuated 215 citizens, according to the country's foreign ministry in a statement to the AFP news agency.
This week, EU countries such as Germany, Spain, and Greece have also begun to bring home their citizens from Lebanon. France has also started evacuating its citizens, writes Euronews.
The UK has chartered planes and so far, over 250 Britons have been evacuated. At the same time, the US has flown out over 350 people this week, and more are expected to receive help, according to AP.
Over 300 Turkish and other foreign citizens have been evacuated by ship from the Lebanese port city of Tripoli and have arrived in Mersin in southern Turkey.
Sweden is not evacuating its citizens from Lebanon, but they are being urged to leave the country on their own, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has announced.
