Navy to rescue hundreds of influencers and stranded expats from Dubai warzone

An evacuation ship is set to be deployed to help stranded British tourists and expats in Dubai.

The RFA Lyme Bay is being placed on ‘heightened readiness’ to be sent to the eastern Mediterranean to help Brits stuck in the Middle East.

The Ministry of Defence said: ‘As part of prudent planning, we have taken the decision to bring RFA Lyme Bay to heightened readiness as a precaution, should she be needed to assist in maritime tasks in the eastern Mediterranean.’

The vessel, which is a landing ship, has both aviation and medical facilities primed for humanitarian relief missions.

It is currently in Gibraltar, with the status change only ‘precautionary’.

Influencers who have remained in the country say they are ‘stuck in middle of World War Three’.

Aviation Expert Daniel Goz, known as Nonstop Dan, claimed he was stranded because the only tickets to get home were economy class.

This prompted an angry reaction from some of his viewers who asked why he wouldn’t ‘just fly economy’.

Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon is also due to be sent to eastern Mediterranean to protect Cyprus after a number of strikes hit military bases on the island.

Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs yesterday the warship would sail from Portsmouth ‘in the next couple of days’.

An Iranian missile landed on an RAF base in Cyprus after several US fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in an apparently friendly fire incident.

In a speech following the drone attack, the Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides said: ‘I want ⁠to be clear: Our country ‌does not ⁠participate in any way and does not intend to be part of any military operation.’

A Government-chartered plane brought Brits back from Dubai in the UAE in the early hours of Tuesday.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch hit back at suggestions she should apologise for claiming British forces are ‘just hanging around’ in the Middle East.

Asked if she felt she needed to apologise for the remarks made over the weekend, the Conservative leader said: ‘I was criticising the Government, that they’re not doing enough, and they are the ones hanging around.

‘HMS Dragon is still in Portsmouth well over a week after it should have left.

‘France has sent about 10 ships to the Mediterranean. The French president is in Cyprus.’

She added: ‘We are the ones who have a base in Cyprus. What is our Prime Minister doing?’

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