Scot speaks of Beirut experience

Expatriate Germans board one of the coaches leaving Beirut

A Scot living in the Lebanese capital Beirut has spoken of his experience of the escalating violence in the area.

Glaswegian Neil Allison, who teaches English, said he would leave if UK Government plans to evacuate up to 10,000 Britons went ahead.

However, he said the departure of foreign nationals would "send a very bad message" to the Lebanese people.

The Church of Scotland has temporarily closed its centre in northern Israel following the upsurge in violence.

More than 130 Lebanese and two dozen Israelis have been killed since fighting began on Wednesday.

Israel launched its offensive after the capture of two of its soldiers by Lebanese guerrillas.

'Very worrying'

Hezbollah, a powerful political and military organisation of Shia Muslims in Lebanon, has also been firing hundreds of missiles into northern Israel.

Mr Allison said he could see plumes of smoke from his home in a Christian area of Beirut, about two miles from the southern suburbs where most of the bombing has taken place.

He told BBC Radio Scotland that plans to evacuate foreigners from the country were "very worrying".

I would prefer to leave of my own volition but I would leave if the government said it was unsafe Neil Allison Teacher in Beirut

"If the governments of countries like Britain and France are saying their citizens should leave, it's a fairly big statement about what they are expecting to happen here," he said.

"It's a difficult one because if you stay you are on your own as you've already been given the message that the government considers it unsafe.

"I was due a holiday at the start of August so I was planning to leave for a month anyway.

"I would prefer to leave of my own volition but I would leave if the government said it was unsafe."

The Church of Scotland has closed its centre at Tiberias in northern Israel in response to the violence.

Walter Dunlop, the World Mission Council's associate secretary for Israel and Palestine, said: "The current conflict in the Middle East is not without direct consequence for the Church of Scotland and its work in Israel and Palestine.

"Since Saturday, when Tiberias came under direct missile attack from Lebanon, the Scots Hotel, as with all other hotels in northern Israel has had to, temporarily, close its doors."