I named the wrong French minister: French Prime Minister/Premier de Villepin was the one who went to Beirut. From the
WSJ timeline, July 17:
11:15 a.m.: French Premier Dominique de Villepin arrived in Beirut on a mission to express solidarity with a country under siege and bombardment by Israel. Villepin is the highest-level foreign official to visit the country since the crisis began last week. France said his visit was aimed only at showing support, but it comes as the U.N. and European Union are launching diplomatic efforts to end the crisis. I did read about the Israelis holding up a ship for security concerns; I think it had to do with dual citizenship issues.
The Israelis boarded the ship before it docked in Beirut because it was vetting the Lebanese heading home. From the
current AP article about the ship landing in Cyprus:
The Orient Queen arrived in Beirut on Tuesday night. It was held up en route by Israeli ships because it had Lebanese on board, who had been taking a cruise in the eastern Mediterranean when the fighting began.
The State Department is now claiming that the evacuation was being held up in part for safety reasons. They probably wanted assurances from Israel that they wouldn't shoot, and to get the USS Gonzales into position just in case Hezbollah decided to do something stupid. They might have been willing to try an evacuation without the Gonzales in place if Hezbollah didn't shoot a missile at an Israeli warship. Getting your ducks in a row take time - especially when you're evacuating people in the middle of a war zone on the other side of the world.
Thanks for finding those links; I wasn't challenging to that extent but it's appreciated.
I had thought I heard the French Defense Minister (that might not be the exact title but that's what he's in charge of) did support Israel earlier in the week and I was pleased.
de Villepin is an oily snake and not to be trusted.
Regarding the ports and ships, someone posted on the live thread that the ships doing extractions are accompanied by military ships for security reasons, and that's smart.
I think Hezbollah took out an Egyptian ship last week (accidentally).
The Israeli Navy also searched the Orient Queen prior to its arrival in Beirut....it had some inbound Lebanese passengers.....
The evacuation is full steam now....the USS Nashville is taking on 1200 Americans, and the Orient Queen will take on a couple more loads, and more than 5 helos evacuating the sick and kids...
Australia's boat left with 600 people on the dock....and Canada will probably get helped out by the USA also.