Beirut, Lebanon Evacuation

[SGRock]

I have seen in the news that the AmEmb in Beirut is gearing up for an Evac. Has anyone seen anything on who is doing the evac and any other particulars?

[USMCRET6391]

Last I heard the Iwo Jima was steaming towrds the coast to evac Americans to Cyprus. Dont know if she is there yet

[SGRock]

I didn't know that we even had re established an embassy there.

[USMCRET6391]

There was when I went through MSG School in 1987, one of the Det Cmdrs from my Class was sent there when we were assigned. He relieved me when I left Rome in 1989. I don't know if it remained open or was closed and re-opened in the years since then. It also appears that a few hundred American have been evacuated from the Country on some sort of Cruise Ship.

[ArchAngel]

Man, what a day it'll be if Hezbollah attack an American, or even a European evac ship on the way out. I hope they get outta there safely.

[SGRock]

That cruise ship is being escorted by the U.S. Navy and I understand that approximately 5,000 Americans are to be evacuated. The thing that pisses me off is that their relatives are being interviewed saying that "...its not fast enough...".

[USMCRET6391]

Norfolk-based ship to help evacuate Americans from Lebanon

By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 18, 2006

NORFOLK - The Norfolk-based guided missile destroyer Gonzalez has been ordered off the coast of Lebanon to escort a cruise ship being diverted there to evacuate American refugees beginning as early as today, the Pentagon announced.

The Gonzalez will accompany the Orient Queen, described on a Web site as a 9,500-ton cruise ship capable of carrying about 750 passengers.

An estimated 25,000 Americans are in Lebanon, with about 8,000 appealing to the U.S. Embassy for help in evacuating, according to news reports.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Monday that the cruise ship the United States has hired would be ready to begin evacuations to Cyprus today.

It was not immediately known where the Gonzalez and Orient Queen would make port.

A three-ship amphibious group, led by the helicopter and troop carrier Iwo Jima, also from Norfolk, is in the Red Sea awaiting possible orders to return to the Mediterranean Sea, which it left July 4, en route to the Persian Gulf, according to Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, spokesman for the 5th Fleet.

Another Norfolk-based destroyer, the Barry, arrived in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, for a routine port visit on Thursday, the Navy said in a news release. It is scheduled to participate in the multinational exercise Sea Breeze 2006 in the Black Sea.

However, it, too, could have its schedule altered.

Two Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters from the Iwo Jima group were used to evacuate 42 Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut over the weekend, the 5th Fleet announced.

They were working for the commander Task Force 59, which is still assigned to the 5th Fleet, Brown said.

Normally, the Suez Canal is the dividing line between the Mediterranean Sea's 6th Fleet and the Persian Gulf's 5th Fleet.

For this crisis, however, the 5th Fleet remains in control, Brown said.

The Gonzalez, with a crew of 325, has been deployed for the past 17 months to both the 6th Fleet and the 5th Fleet. Its crews have rotated on and off the ship every six months in a "Sea Swap" program.

It is expected to return to Norfolk next month.

The Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group is made up of about 6,000 sailors and Marines. They are: amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, amphibious transport dock Nashville, dock landing ship Whidbey Island, destroyers Bulkeley and Cole - all from Hampton Roads - and the attack submarine Albuquerque, from Portsmouth, N.H., and the cruiser Philippine Sea, from Mayport, Fla.

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit - based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. - is made up of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines; Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 365; and the Marine Expeditionary Unit services Support Group, according to a news release from the Iwo Jima.

24th MEU helps 64 Americans evacuate Lebanon

By Jeff Schogol and Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit evacuated 43 Americans from Lebanon on Monday as part of ongoing evacuation efforts, officials said.

Currently, there are three CH-53 Super-Stallion helicopters in Cyprus ferrying U.S. citizens out of Lebanon with more such helicopters expected to arrive Tuesday, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Additionally, the Navy is sending the destroyer USS Gonzalez to escort a Greek commercial ship contracted to ferry U.S. citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus, Whitman said.

The Greek ship is capable of transporting 750 passengers at one time, and will be available for evacuation efforts starting Tuesday, he said.

Evacuation efforts began Sunday when two CH-53 helicopters with the 24th MEU flew from Jordan to Beirut to take 21 American personnel to Cyprus, according to the Marine Corps.

A team of more than 100 Marines landed in Cyprus “to prepare for Sunday’s mission and lay the groundwork for follow-on operations, should they be needed,” a 24th MEU news release says.

Composed of 2,200 Marines and sailors, the 24th MEU is currently sailing with the USS Iwo Jima’s three-ship strike group, which is now in Jordan, having completed exercises with the Jordanian military, officials said.

The three ships in the MEU are preparing to get under way to head north to the Suez Canal should they be called in at the request of the State Department, a Defense official said on Monday.

Whitman said the Defense Department has other assets available to do the job.

“Right now we are still working with the State Department and looking at what the requirements will be in assisting with the departure of American citizens from Lebanon,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for 5th Fleet.

According to Marine officials, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman decided on Saturday to formally ask the military for assistance in moving the U.S. citizens out of harm’s way.

Israeli airstrikes have closed the Beirut airport and a naval blockade has stopped many ships from leaving. Cyprus is about an hour’s flight west of Lebanon; both are popular tourist destinations. State Department officials have said that approximately 8,000 Americans have informed the department they are living or working in Lebanon.

On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut advised Americans in Lebanon that those who wanted to leave would have to pay for their transportation out of the country.

“For the portion of the trip directly handled by the U.S. Government, Americans will be asked to sign a promissory note and will be billed at a later date,” the July 15 advisory says.

This is standard operation procedure, a State Department official said Monday.

The official said she did not know how much each evacuee would have to pay but added, “No one will be turned away because they cannot produce funds.”

[Panzerman]

Originally Posted by SGRock

That cruise ship is being escorted by the U.S. Navy and I understand that approximately 5,000 Americans are to be evacuated. The thing that pisses me off is that their relatives are being interviewed saying that "...its not fast enough...".

Since they're making them sign promissory notes stating that they'll repay the govt' for the cost of evacuating them, I'd say they have the right to bitch about the service.

[Vulture6]

^ after ignoring a month's worth of State Department advisories saying "don't go, or if you're here, don't stay"

Are they really expecting payment?!?! That's "f"ed up.

[USMCRET6391]

Given that it appears that most of these crying about about how and when they are going to be evacuated are either Lebanese with dual citizenship or students too stupid to get out when they were told; I dont feel my tax dollars should pay to get them out.

[SGRock]

Evacuation Against the Odds
An unsung and unknown story behind this massive evacuation effort is that of the American embassy here in Cyprus. The numbers involved here are staggering; as of today, approximately 1730 local, the Marines and Navy have moved some 12,200 Americans out of Lebanon in five days.

With an embassy staff for this little country of only 60 employees, including foreign nationals, this would have been an ideal time for a station in a sleepy resort island to collapse under the strain. But instead, working under the passion and professionalism of embassy employees, the station has more than kept up with the volume of refugees brought over from Lebanon.
Surprisingly, this is not a military operation. Although the 24 MEU is transporting refugees into Cyprus, and the Air Force is flying them out on their massive C-130's, it is run under the auspices of rather sketchy civilian control. Decisions are still made on the fly. Well-planned and running ops are changed for no apparent reason. Some groups have been at Larnaca airport for 30 hours trying to get a hop onto the assault ship Iwo Jima.
But through it all, the embassy is working 24/7; ignoring the turf wars and the extraneous issues as they quietly and efficiently move the American evacuees from the seaport to the airport.
Unknown to most Americans, however, is that a big reason for the airport confusion is the continuing arrival of Europeans on their summer holiday. Planeloads of British, German, and Scandinavian tourists arrive hourly on the summer holidays they booked long ago.
The American embassy in Cyprus, however, takes this news in stride. They have not only built an emigration system from scratch, but they are constantly improving it. Late into the night embassy officials have found seven hotel rooms for a group of stranded Marines, Sailors, and press.
While many of the media giants have reported on how it seemed to take America longer to respond to the crisis than other countries, the fact is that the U.S. Navy was initially not allowed any closer than 50 miles to the Lebanese coast. Even today, the Marines are still denied the use of Beirut’s commercial piers. But the Marines and Sailors bulldozed a section of beach into a landing zone and managed to pull 2,000 Americans daily off their makeshift embarkation point.