Tokyo, October 5 - Japan has started evacuating its citizens from conflict-ridden Lebanon as the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah escalates. The Japanese government announced that an Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) plane safely transported 16 individuals from Lebanon to neighboring Jordan on Friday.
According to the *Japan Today* newspaper, these individuals were flown to Jordan by a Japanese aircraft. The plane was dispatched Thursday morning from the ASDF base in Tottori, western Japan. On the orders of Defense Minister General Nakatani, a C-2 transport plane was placed on standby in Jordan to facilitate the safe return of Japanese nationals.
Japan’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the evacuated group included 11 Japanese citizens, four French nationals, and one other foreign individual, all safely relocated to Jordan.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry revealed that about 50 Japanese citizens were in Lebanon when the initial clashes between Israel and Hezbollah broke out. Two individuals had already been evacuated via a government-chartered flight, reaching Cyprus on Thursday. Additionally, a Defense Ministry official reported that another C-2 transport plane has been sent from Tottori to Jordan and is expected to fly on to Greece for potential further evacuations.
