There will be “disastrous consequences” if the war in the Middle East spreads to Lebanon, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said on Tuesday.
Speaking to the House foreign affairs committee, he said the situation in the region “is worsening”, but that the government is making preparations for every eventuality.
“The Republic of Cyprus, in this context, is preparing for such an eventuality, for the evacuation of third country nationals from Lebanon,” he said, adding that the number of those who would potentially need to be evacuated could exceed 100,000.
Additionally, he said that citizens of both Lebanon and Israel may also need to be evacuated to or through Cyprus, and that there is also the risk of increased flows of refugees to the island, given the large number of Syrian nationals who live in Lebanon.
Under such a set of circumstances, the evacuations would be made under the government’s ‘Estia’ action plan, which was last activated in October to facilitate the arrival and onward repatriation of third country nationals from Israel.
He also made reference to the threats made by Hezbollah against Cyprus last month, denying the claims that Cyprus is party to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Cyprus has nothing to do with assisting Israel’s military operations and it will not do so,” he said, adding that President Nikos Christodoulides had set this out “in the clearest possible terms”.
“We must all do everything we can to send messages to both sides that any further expansion of the conflict would be extremely dangerous,” he added.
Asked whether the Cypriot government had condemned Israel’s actions, he pointed out that his ministry had on May 30 said it “strongly deplores the recent strikes causing devastation and the deaths of so many civilians, including children, in Rafah.”
In addition, he said it has “not come to the government’s attention” that acts of aggression have been made from the British bases on the island and said that the Republic of Cyprus “has not given any approval for such activities”.
Such approval would not be required for them to be carried out, given that the British bases are sovereign territory of the United Kingdom, as was evidenced earlier this year when the UK used its Akrotiri base to bomb Yemen on multiple occasions.
He also touched on the matter of Cyprus’ Amalthea humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza, saying that a total of 12,653 pallets of aid, each weighing around a tonne, have been transported from Cyprus to Gaza.
He added that the government is holding discussions with the United States and other countries to “look for an alternative” to the temporary jetty built by the US off the coast of Gaza, which is once again out of action due to wave heights exceeding its reported maximum of 1.25 metres.
