Germany has become the first Western country to initiative an emergency evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon utilizing military transport planes amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation.

Some 110 passengers were flown out of Beirut international airport in an initial flight on a German air force A321 plane on Monday. The group included diplomats and non-essential staff from the German embassy as well as their families. German citizens who with medical conditions were also on this first flight out. Essential personnel at Germany’s embassy in Beirut have remained, in order to help facilitate the safe exit of the estimated 1,800 German citizens still in the country.