Navy draws up Syria evacuation plans

23 July 2012

The Royal Navy is drawing up plans to rescue British citizens from the Middle East should instability in Syria lead to 'proxy conflict' in neighbouring countries, it has been reported.

Ships from the navy's Response Force Task Group (RFTG) are set to loiter off Cyprus, some 100 miles off the Syrian coast, ready to rescue British citizens in operations similar to those carried out in Libya ahead of 2011's civil war.

A report in The Daily Telegraph said that helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender and amphibious assault ship HMS Bulwark would be among the ships remaining in the Mediterranean after completing post-Olympic Games exercises in Sardinia, Albania and Turkey.

The conflict in Syria, which began in early 2011 with the Arab Spring movement, has been increasingly referred to as a civil war between the ruling Assad regime and various rebel groups.

Civilians are fleeing into neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq in large numbers, and the UN estimates that some 120,000 people fled the country on 18 July alone, although it is not known how many of those fleeing are British citizens.

A Ministry of Defence source told the Telegraph: "There is no question at this stage of a combat role, our aim is purely to consider contingency plans to evacuate British nationals if there are 'proxy conflicts' in the Lebanon and Jordan.

"The worst case scenario would be terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Jordan if the Syrian government seeks to de-stabilise the entire region."

A Royal Navy spokesman said: "The Response Force Task Group was established as a high readiness, multi-faceted maritime capability to respond to crisis events around the world."