World powers have deployed helicopters, warships, chartered ferries and buses to pluck tens of thousands of trapped foreigners from war-torn Lebanon in one of the biggest mass evacuations since World War II. With Beirut's airport in tatters, foreigners fled by bus to Syria to escape Israeli bombs, missiles and artillery fire, as others were taken away by ship or helicopter to Cyprus.
Israel has imposed an air and sea blockade around Lebanon but has said it will co-ordinate with foreign governments to allow their terrified nationals to leave.
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain now had six ships in the region. They include the Royal Navy flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and an amphibious assault ship, HMS Bulwark.
"We have taken out of Lebanon the first 60 people and that was done yesterday. The first ship will come today so obviously we can take far larger numbers out," he told parliament.
The British press has put pressure on Blair, saying Britons in Beirut are impatient with preparations to evacuate up to 12,000 British nationals, 10,000 dual nationals, and Commonwealth citzens.
"We are doing absolutely everything we can to make sure the evacuation happens as swiftly and as properly as possible," Blair said.
Earlier, British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells said Royal Navy could be faced with "the biggest evacuation since Dunkirk", when some 330,000 soldiers were evacuated by sea from France in 1940.
By early Tuesday, a chartered French ferry with about 1,250 people aboard -- 800 French nationals, including 300 children, 400 from other European Union member states and 50 Americans -- had already docked in Larnaca, Cyprus.
The French nationals were to return to France on chartered Air France flights.
"I am sad to be going back to France," said Zeina, 40, who was evacuated on the French ferry after a holiday in the mountains with her three children and sister-in-law.
"But I was so frightened by the first bombs. It's such a relief to be here," she said after stepping ashore.
Larnaca will also be the first port of call for nearly 50,000 Canadian citizens trapped by the fighting; Ottawa has chartered three ships -- each capable of carrying 900 people -- to help in the evacuation.
An Italian vessel -- with 186 Italians, 58 Lebanese and 49 Swedes and a new-born baby on board -- docked there late Monday.
The United States -- which flew 43 people out of Lebanon Monday on military helicopters, most of them children, elderly and sick people -- has chartered a ship capable of carrying 750 passengers from Lebanon to Cyprus.
The United States has an estimated 25,000 passport-holders in Lebanon.
Russians fleeing southern Lebanon described a harrowing journey along deserted and bombed roads to Beirut as others returned safely to Moscow from the Palestinian territories.
"We went on bombed roads. The most frightening was not the shooting but the total silence. There was no one, not even a dog on the roads," one Russian woman from southern Lebanon told state television.
Syria, which has been criticised strongly by the United States for supporting the Hezbollah militia's attacks on Israel which provoked the Jewish state's onslaught, has offered "safe haven" to foreigners.
Sweden is chartering a 1,600-passenger Greek vessel. Stockholm's ambassador to Cyprus Ingemar Lindhal said 750 of its 5,000 passport holders are believed to have already escaped overland through Syria.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said three busloads of Australians had made it over the border to Syria. Canberra also hoped to charter a boat to bring out up to 600 other nationals, he added.
Philippine diplomats are negotiating with countries near Lebanon, where some 30,000 Filipino workers could be quickly evacuated, President Gloria Arroyo said. Roman Catholic leaders in Beirut are allowing Filipinos to seek shelter in churches.
Some 181 Polish nationals escaped to Syria on six buses which also contained about 30 other people, including Americans, Slovaks and Czechs, said the Polish ambassador to Lebanon, Zygmunt Cybula.
Syria was also the preferred route out for at least 107 Chinese nationals, including three tourists from Hong Kong.
Spain said Tuesday that 113 people, most of them Spanish, had been brought home on board an armed forces Boeing 707 from Damascus, where they had arrived by bus. Some 152 others are expected later Tuesday, the defence ministry said.
At the same time, German, Swiss and Austrian nationals began arriving back in Europe on chartered planes, many again on flights out of Damascus.
In South America, Venezuela said it was coordinating with Colombia and Uruguay to help their own nationals in Lebanon to saftey. Caracas said it wants to help some 400 Venezuelans to leave, but faces the same difficulties as other countries.
Peru said it was seeking to help about 50 Peruvians in Lebanon and another 100 in Haifa, Israel, which has been the target of Hezbollah-launched missiles.
