TOKYO: Japan’s Defense Ministry sent a Self-Defense Force team to Lebanon on Friday to prepare for a possible evacuation of Japanese nationals in the country.

The team of several SDF members is tasked to gather information and coordinate with local authorities as fighting is intensifying in border areas between Israel and Lebanon linked to the Palestinian situation.

Clashes between the Israeli military and the armed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah are continuing in the border areas.

According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, there are about 70 Japanese nationals in Lebanon. The ministry has issued an evacuation advisory urging nationals in border areas to leave the country.

Japan has put three SDF transport planes on standby in Jordan to evacuate Japanese nationals in neighboring Israel.

The Defense Ministry will make preparations so it can dispatch SDF aircraft to Lebanon swiftly if it judges such an operation necessary due to changes in the local situation, based on information from the Foreign Ministry and the dispatched SDF team.

JIJI Press