15 Irish citizens were taken by convoy from Beirut this morning to an air strip at Latakia in Syria and airlifted to Larnaca in Cyprus.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, is discussing with senior officials from his department the possibility of arranging another convoy tomorrow to bring the remaining 100 Irish out of Beirut.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has set up an emergency helpline for anyone worried about loved ones caught up in the crisis in the Middle East.
The crisis centre help line number is 1800 242548.
Other countries are also taking precautions for their nationals.
An Italian convoy of vehicles has left Beirut while the US, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the UAE said plans were under way to ferry their citizens from Lebanon to Syria or Cyprus.
Britain has advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon and told expatriates to 'stay put for the time being, exercise caution, keep in touch with the embassy and heed local advice.'
A Spanish military transport plane carrying 116 Spaniards and 10 other people landed today at an air force base near Madrid.
It had taken off from Damascus earlier with passengers who were driven to Syria from Beirut yesterday.
