US expands sea, air evacuation from Lebanon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – About 1,100 American evacuees left
Lebanon by sea and air bound for Cyprus on Wednesday, the
largest group of U.S. citizens rescued from the country in a
single day, U.S. officials said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said roughly 900 Americans
were aboard the Orient Queen, a private passenger ship hired by
the U.S. government, that left the port of Beirut on Wednesday
bound for Cyprus.

A further 200 Americans were carried from Lebanon in
helicopters and another vessel, a State Department official
said. The military has been flying U.S. citizens from Beirut to
Cyprus using six CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters.

As Israeli planes hit Lebanon on the eighth day of
hostilities, the U.S. Navy said three of its ships arrived in
the region, bringing the total to four, including an amphibious
vessel expected to begin loading more evacuees on Wednesday.

There has been some criticism of the slowness with which
the administration began the evacuation, while other countries
started to bring their citizens out of harm’s way earlier.

Asked about this, Whitman said: “The goal here is the safe,
orderly, organized, disciplined evacuation of American
citizens.”

A State Department official said the Orient Queen was due
to reach Cyprus in the early hours of Thursday.

The departure of the Orient Queen, which is owned by a
Lebanese company, was a big expansion of the U.S. evacuation,
which had moved about 1,400 Americans since crisis began.
Thousands more are due to be taken out in the next few days.

“Although there is no evidence that Americans are being
directly targeted, the security situation has deteriorated and
now presents a potential threat to American citizens and the
U.S. Embassy,” President George W. Bush said in a letter to
congressional leaders describing U.S. military activities
related to the crisis.

The State Department has said about 25,000 Americans were
in Lebanon, but a smaller number — about 15,000 — have
registered with the embassy as living or traveling there.

U.S. NAVY SHIPS

The three Navy ships arriving in the region were the USS
Nashville, an amphibious transport dock able to take on up to
1,000 evacuees, the command and control ship USS Mount Whitney
and the guided missile destroyer USS Barry, the Navy said.

They joined the guided missile destroyer USS Gonzalez,
there to protect ships evacuating Americans.

Five more ships are on the way and are due to arrive later
this week. They are the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima,
amphibious transport dock USS Trenton, dock landing ship USS
Whidbey Island, High Speed Vessel Swift and oil tanker USNS Big
Horn, the Navy said.

Whitman said the number of people the United States is
capable of evacuating will top 2,000 on Thursday and 4,000 on
Friday, although the actual numbers who leave might vary.

The United States also has contracted to use the Rahmah, a
private Saudi-owned ship that can carry up to 1,400 passengers
and will begin ferrying people out in the coming days,
officials said.