Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, German Air Force planes were on Friday due to fly a further 219 vulnerable German citizens home from the Lebanese capital Beirut.
According to the Foreign Office in Berlin, a total of 460 people have so far been flown out of Lebanon as part of the so-called diplomatic pick-up programme.
Further flights are being prepared depending on requirements and the situation. The Airbus A330 of the MMU multinational air transport unit was due to land in Cologne in the evening.
The German military on Wednesday flew 130 German citizens out of Lebanon. Unlike evacuation flights, flights as part of a diplomatic pick-up are not accompanied by armed soldiers.
According to the Foreign Office, the Airbus was once again carrying urgently needed relief supplies to Lebanon to provide emergency care for the civilian population.
More than two tonnes of medical supplies were reportedly on board. The load was financed by the Foreign Office and is to be handed over to the Lebanese sister organisation of the German Red Cross.
On Monday, a German military aircraft returned from Beirut to Berlin with staff from the German Embassy, along with their families and personnel from German intermediary organizations.
The aircraft landed in the evening with around 110 passengers on board, the Foreign Office confirmed.
Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week.
Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities.
The Foreign Office had raised the crisis levels for German missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank over the weekend.
The embassies will remain operational but non-essential staff are to be flown out.
