BEIRUT, 18 July 2006 — A host of countries were evacuating their nationals from Lebanon yesterday to escape Israeli air strikes which have pounded the country for six days.

As Europeans crowded outside their embassies in Beirut, the European Union urged Israel to guarantee the safety of tens of thousands of EU citizens in Lebanon.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, which holds the EU presidency, told reporters: “Several times I have been in touch with the Israeli minister and urged them to give clear guarantees these people are not endangered.” A 1,300-capacity ferry chartered by France headed to the waters off Beirut yesterday and was expected to take many evacuees to the port of Larnaca on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 85 km west of Lebanon.

A former French mandate, Lebanon is home to 17,000 French residents. Up to 5,000 French tourists are currently visiting.

Hundreds of French nationals gathered near their embassy in Beirut waiting to be taken by bus to board the ferry.

Fouad Jawad, a 17-year-old student, cried at the sound of Israeli missiles bombing Hizbollah’s stronghold in a Beirut suburb to the south.

“Our family are still there, we are afraid that something happened to them. They have not been answering their phones,” Jawad said as he waited near the embassy.

Mohammed Koubaissi, 40, a businessman with a French passport who was taking his family to safety, said: “No one cares about Arab lives. Having a European nationality is like a pass from hell to heaven.”

An Italian military ship also left Larnaca for Lebanon yesterday. An Italian Embassy official in Nicosia said it planned to take out 200 Italians and 120 non-Italians.

Britain evacuated around 40 people from Beirut by military helicopter yesterday and Royal Navy warships moved toward the coast for the possible evacuation of 10,000 British passport holders.

James Watt, Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon, said the advice to remaining Britons was “stay put and keep safe” until a larger evacuation was possible. He said the ships should be in position to begin evacuations within the next day or two.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Brussels the government would help a further 500 Germans evacuate Lebanon yesterday after 200 left at the weekend.

Sweden said 1,300 Swedes had already reached Syria and the Dutch Foreign Ministry said a convoy of buses had reached the Syrian border with around 300 people on board.

Finland said the evacuation of up to 160 Finnish and other EU nationals, expatriates and tourists, would take place by ship to Larnaca or by bus from Beirut to Damascus.

It said Swedish, Norwegian and Danish ship evacuations were also planned. Greece said a navy frigate was heading to Larnaca to await orders.

More than 170 Norwegians yeserday returned home from Lebanon after being evacuated via Damascus on an aircraft chartered by Norwegian authorities, the Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile a Norwegian ship, the Hual Transporter, capable of carrying 600 passengers, was set to berth in Beirut as part of a joint operation agreed between Norway, France and the European Union.

Up to 700 Norwegian citizens were in Lebanon when the Israeli offensive started on Thursday, according to Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.

Some 30 Norwegians have left Lebanon for Cyprus and a further 70 have traveled to Damascus by bus where they were waiting to be evacuated. Another five buses were to be laid on to transport Norwegians from Lebanon to the Syrian capital.

“We are currently focusing our efforts on evacuating nationals from the south of Lebanon,” the area of the country subject to the most intense raids, Foreign Ministry spokesman Frode Overland Andersen told Agence France Presse. Having received guarantees from Israel, the Hual Transporter was due to berth today pending the resolution of security and logistical issues in Beirut, Overland Andersen added.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said more than 100 Nigerians had been evacuated to a town close to the Syrian border and said Nigeria was assisting other African nationals including from Ghana, Senegal and Ethiopia.

Since Thursday, thousands of foreigners have left Lebanon by car to Syria, forced to flee overland after Israeli forces bombed Beirut’s airport.

A US Marine helicopter with 21 passengers — non-essential US Embassy staff and Americans with medical needs — left Lebanon for Cyprus on Sunday, US officials said. Washington estimates that about 25,000 US citizens, including people with dual citizenship, live in Lebanon.

Canada was preparing to evacuate its citizens, Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said after seven Canadians were killed in Lebanon on Sunday.

The United States has contracted for a commercial cruise ship to be used for a possible broader evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon due to the conflict with Israel, and is sending a Navy destroyer to escort it, the Pentagon said yesterday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Orient Queen, operated by Abou Merhi Cruises, will be available starting today for evacuation duties and is heading toward Cyprus. The ship has a capacity of about 750 people, Whitman said. The guided missile destroyer USS Gonzalez will be assigned the task of escorting the cruise ship, he said.