The national evacuation plan ‘Estia’ for the reception and repatriation of third country nationals via Cyprus to other states has been “fully implemented”, Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis announced in a post on X but so far no requests have been submitted for mass evacuations, Letymbiotis said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis told state broadcaster CyBC that six to seven boats were arriving daily at the Ayia Napa marina with evacuees, both individuals and diplomatic personnel from the EU to Israel or Lebanon, who are being assisted with transfer to their country of origin via Cyprus.
Another boat arrived in Larnaca, carrying around 15 people, embassy personnel from an unnamed country, CyBC reported.
In total 30 boats with 500 European Union or other nationals have landed in Cyprus, with flows expected to pick up over the next several days.
EU migration regulations apply absolutely, Gotsis stated, and only those evacuees who fulfill the set criteria are permitted to be transferred to Cyprus.
Around 1,000 registered Cypriot nationals are living in Israel or Lebanon, of whom a small percentage had requested to be repatriated to date, Gotsis also said.
The Red Cross has also convened a meeting with boat owners regarding their enlistment for the transfer of persons from Lebanon to Cyprus. According to the CyBC is foreign boat owners were allegedly charging €5,000 per head to ferry people across.
Meanwhile, Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was over barring further provocation, while Israel and the US promised to retaliate against Tehran as fears of a wider war intensified.
Letymbiotis said the situation is being monitored and Cyprus is ready to support civilian evacuations, particularly in cases where departure structures in third countries are affected.
Earlier on Tuesday evening Ben Gurion international airport was shut down for several hours and eleven international flights with destinations in the Middle East were diverted to Larnaca airport as Iran launched a series of missile strikes on the Israeli Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv.
Among the flights were one outbound flight from Prague and one from Milan, CyBC reported. British Airways’ flight from London Heathrow to Dubai, Royal Jordanian’s flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Amman, and Israeli airline El Al’s flight from Rhodes to Tel Aviv itself also landed at Larnaca on Tuesday evening after Israel closed its airspace amid the missile strikes, and both Jordan and Iraq swiftly followed suit.
Light explosions were visible from the island’s coastal areas overnight, particularly causing consternation in Limassol where members of the public called British bases personnel at Akrotiri, asking what was going on and if they were in danger.
According to reports on Wednesday, residents near Akrotiri did not notice any flights taking off from the base. Residents in Paphos were also alarmed and videos surfaced on social media showing the light explosions.
The sightings have not yet been officially clarified, with the CyBC estimating that one likely explanation was the setting off of automatic aerial defence systems in the open seas south of Limassol.
Letymbiotis announced that President Nikos Christodoulides had called an extraordinary national council meeting for Wednesday 11am at the Presidential Palace to discuss the latest events.
Foreign ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis had told the Cyprus Mail on Monday Cyprus is at its “maximum state of readiness” for a potential evacuation.
The Cypriot government moved faster on the matter than its international counterparts, with Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias having announced on Tuesday night that his government is to provide a Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft to facilitate the evacuation of Cypriot citizens from Lebanon.
Cyprus’ readiness to enact the ‘Estia plan’ comes after the United Kingdom sent 700 troops, border force agents, and other officials to Cyprus to help with contingency planning for a range of scenarios in Lebanon.
The country’s foreign office had said the teams “joined the already significant UK diplomatic and military footprint in the region”, with the country also reopening a scheme for its citizens called “Register Your Presence”, which it says will support its citizens in Lebanon and “provide vital updates”.
Iran’s latest volley of missiles fired at Israel came as a retaliation for Israel’s killing of militant group Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, after the country had already wiped out most of its leadership structure.
Israeli army radio said nearly 200 missiles were launched from Iran on Tuesday night, while Iran’s revolutionary guard declared that if Israel retaliated again, their response would be “more crushing and ruinous”.
Later on Tuesday night, Israel’s military sounded the all-clear and said Israelis were free to leave their bomb shelters, while military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military was not aware of any injuries resulting from the Iranian missile attacks.
Israel had invaded southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning, having struck central Beirut with a missile for the first time since 2006 a day earlier.
Meanwhile, the United Nations had reported that 100,000 people fled from to Syria while Lebanese authorities on Tuesday put the number of those fleeing since September 23 at 240,000, of whom around 180,000 Syrians and 60,000 Lebanese.
The Estia plan had been previously activated in October last year following Hamas’ attack on Israel, as EU and third country nationals fled the country after the attack.
When Sudan was evacuated in April last year, a total of 2,611 people arrived in Cyprus, while over 1,000 are known to have arrived from Israel in October.
