Cyprus has completed preparations for a possible evacuation of foreigners from Lebanon and Israel, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos told the Cypriot news agency CNA on Tuesday.
The plans come amid fears that Iran and its allies could soon launch major attacks on Israel and plunge the region into a wider war.
Kombos said Cyprus can accommodate a large number of people, including citizens of other EU countries and third-country nationals, provided they travel on time to their home countries.
In the Mediterranean island’s port city of Larnaca, beds have already been set up in schools and hygiene facilities have been built.
Cyprus is the closest European Union member state to the Middle East. The flight from Lebanon to Cyprus takes about 35 minutes.
The Foreign Minister recalled that Cyprus temporarily took in some 60,000 people during the 2006 Lebanon war.
Ferries can also be used to take evacuees to the Cypriot ports of Limassol or Larnaca. People have been brought to safety via these sea routes several times since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Concerns about an all-out regional war have grown following the recent targeted killings of two leading figures, one from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the other from the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Iran and Hezbollah announced they would launch massive retaliatory strikes against Israel in response to the killings. Israeli forces have been on high alert for days.
