MADRID: Spain plans to send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 citizens from Lebanon as early as Thursday, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday.
“The Spanish airplanes are ready, the staff are ready, as always with the professionalism of the Spanish army,” she said in an interview with Antena 3 TV station.
A group of 350 Spanish citizens present in Lebanon have asked to go to Spain, Robles said in the interview.
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares had said earlier this week around 1,000 Spaniards were in Lebanon.
Israel was hit on Tuesday evening by rockets launched from Iran following a ground incursion of the Israeli armed forces into south Lebanon where they clashed with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
The operation followed intense air strikes that have devastated Hezbollah’s leadership, including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in Beirut last week.
Beside the 1,000 Spanish residents in Lebanon, Spain has commanded the United Nations’ Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and deployed 650 troops along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, since 2022.
Spain to evacuate citizens from Lebanon, Defense Minister says
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Spain to evacuate citizens from Lebanon, Defense Minister says
- A group of 350 Spanish citizens present in Lebanon have asked to go to Spain
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes Japan’s Chugoku region
- Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no irregularities at the plant
TOKYO: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 hit the western Chugoku region of Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, followed by a series of sizeable aftershocks.
The epicenter of the first earthquake was in eastern Shimane prefecture, the agency said, adding that there was no danger of a tsunami. Chugoku Electric Power operates the Shimane Nuclear Power Station, about 32 km (20 miles) away.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no irregularities at the plant.
A spokesperson said the utility was checking on any impact on the plant’s No.2 unit, which has been operating since December 2024 after being shut down following the March 2011 disasters in Fukushima.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas.
The earthquake had a seismic intensity of upper-5 on Japan’s 1-7 scale, strong enough to make movement difficult without support.
West Japan Railway said it had suspended Shinkansen bullet-train operations between Shin-Osaka and Hakata following the quake.
