Japan SDF planes head for possible Lebanon evacuation mission

Two Air Self-Defense Force airplanes left Japan on Thursday in preparation for the possible evacuation of Japanese citizens from Lebanon, where tensions are mounting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.Two C-2 transport airplanes departed from Miho Air Base in the western prefecture of Tottori for Jordan and Greece to stand by, the Defense Ministry said. According to the Foreign Ministry, about 50 Japanese nationals are in Lebanon.The Defense Ministry formed a 500-member joint task unit after then-Defense Minister Minoru Kihara ordered the ASDF on Sept. 27 to send…READ FULL ARTICLE