LARNACA, Cyprus, 23 July 2006 — Foreign governments stepped up efforts to evacuate their remaining nationals from Lebanon yesterday amid mounting talk of an Israeli ground offensive against its northern neighbor.

Warships, cruisers and ferries crisscrossed the eastern Mediterranean from ports in Lebanon toward Cyprus and Turkey, packed with evacuees, while planes brought more back to their homelands.

Some 3,000 Americans arrived in Cyprus early yesterday aboard two US warships while France brought out around 1,500 evacuees on two vessels overnight.

Two boats carrying 339 Australians and some 200 Canadians docked in the Turkish port of Mersin, the Foreign Ministry said in Ankara. Two planes carrying more than 200 Russian evacuees also arrived in Moscow from the Syrian city of Latakia.

As thousands of weary but relieved evacuees huddled in makeshift transit centers, governments began warning nationals still in Lebanon that now was the time to leave if they wanted to get out.

BBC World Service radio broadcast warnings through the night to all remaining Britons in Lebanon who wanted to leave to gather at an assembly area in the capital yesterday for the last ship out being planned by the British government.

“Today is the last day. It is the last scheduled evacuation for British nationals wanting to leave,” said Derek Smith, spokesman for the British Embassy in Beirut.

A British diplomat in Cyprus told AFP the authorities were keen to instill a sense of urgency in those still wanting to leave after some evacuee ships had left Beirut less than full in recent days.

“We made this warning because we need to get them out. If they want to go time is running out,” the diplomat said.

It is estimated that some 3,500 of an estimated 5,000 Britons who were in Lebanon when the crisis erupted have now left.

Australia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Lyndall Sachs, said that her country’s efforts to evacuate many of the 25,000 Australians who had been in the country were also winding up at the weekend.

The last scheduled ships were due to leave for Cyprus and Turkey today, she said.

“We’ll definitely have ships tomorrow. Then we’ll be keeping the situation under review,” she said.

The French Embassy said it would continue its evacuation effort into at least next week “as long as there are French nationals who want to leave.”

Sweden also moved to wind down its evacuation operations. The Foreign Ministry in Stockholm said it hoped to evacuate the last 300 Swedes still in Beirut yesterday.

A total of 6,800 Swedes have now been evacuated, and 4,900 have already been flown home.

Some 500 Australian evacuees were due in Cyprus later yesterday aboard the Greek warship Crete 2 while the British-chartered cruise liner, the Alkioni, was due to bring in the last batch of British evacuees.

With the small resort island of Cyprus — the European Union’s easternmost outpost — reeling under the influx of tens of thousands of displaced arriving to coincide with the peak summer tourist season, the EU’s executive arm announced assistance for its hard-pressed government.

“Discussions are currently under way with the Cypriot authorities as to how the coordination of this operation can be improved through an increase of the transport capacity made available,” a statement said.

“An expert team is being composed and is due to arrive in Cyprus over the weekend.” With hotels full and not enough flights, the United States announced it had expanded the capacity of a makeshift transit camp erected at the Cyprus state fair in the capital Nicosia to accommodate 2,300 people.

Many evacuees are having to wait all day at the island’s two international airports because there is nowhere else to accommodate them.

Several governments voiced concern for citizens trapped in south Lebanon by the intensive Israeli bombardment of the border region.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said around 400 French citizens were trapped there and that an operation would be mounted in the coming days to try to reach them.

A British official estimated there were around 100 Britons left in the south.

“We believe it’s not safe for them to leave at the moment,” the official told AFP.

“We are looking at ways to get them out. They are advised to keep a low profile and get ready for departure at short notice.”