Two ships have already left the southern port city of Tyre, the latest spiriting away 1,250 European and Canadian citizens on Monday in a window of calm granted by the Israeli army.

Another two ships, a Canadian-chartered vessel and a French warship, are expected to arrive here on Wednesday, in a mission described by Canada's ambassador to Lebanon as "extremely dangerous".

The Canadian foreign ministry said it was "working closely with Israel to get safe passage through the area ... to ensure we don't get clobbered."

Ottawa hopes to rescue as many as 1,000 Canadians stranded in the region, having already evacuated more than 6,700 from Beirut.

Australia urged its citizens to head to Tyre for a chance of escaping.

"While both ships will evacuate Australians if there is space, there is no guarantee that you will be given a space on these ships," the government said.

It warned however that it could not guarantee security for any road convoys and recommended tying an Australian flag or white sheet to the roof of vehicles to minimise the risk of bombardment by Israeli warplanes.

Tyre, just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Israeli border, is in a swathe of southern Lebanese territory that Israel has fiercely shelled since Shiite Hezbollah militiamen kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Travel in the region is extremely difficult and risky, with many road and bridges blown up and civilian convoys frequently targeted by Israeli artillery and warplanes.

Australia said it was ending its rescue operations after evacuating more than 4,000 nationals. Its last three chartered ferries, with a total of 2,300 berths, were scheduled to leave Beirut for Cyprus and Turkey on Tuesday.

Despite rescue operations tapering off, Cyprus continued to grapple with the huge influx of evacuees and EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas arrived in the country Tuesday to address the Cypriot concerns.

"Cyprus has no more need of thank-yous and congratulations for the huge task it has undertaken alone and unaided," government spokesman Christodoulos Pashardes blasted. "It has a real need for direct contributions from all European countries."

Approximately 35,000 evacuees have reached the island over the past week but only 23,000 have flown home, overwhelming the island's hotel space during the peak summer tourist season.

Cyprus said it was costing 17,400 euros (22,000 dollars) a day to assist evacuees at five holding centres.

"Cyprus has not simply reached its limit, but surpassed it. (...) This problem cannot be made exclusive to Cyprus simply because it neighbours a military operation," Pashardes said.

The island could still expect more people as developing countries worked to extract their nationals, though many were also passing through Turkey and Syria.

A French frigate was due to leave Beirut late on Tuesday for the Turkish port of Mersin carrying 1,500 people, mostly French citizens. More than 4,400 French nationals have already been repatriated out of the 8,000 that appealed for help.

Approximately 6,500 evacuees have transited through Mersin since the exodus from Lebanon began.

Egypt on Tuesday said it had repatriated more than 14,500 Eyptians, mostly via Damascus, while Brazil said it had evacuated 854 citizens so far.

Sri Lanka, which has the largest contingent of expatriate workers in Lebanon with about 80,000 people, took a different tack as a government minister on Tuesday called Sri Lankans to stay put and for those who had left to return.

"We are not encouraging them to come back. In fact, we want them to go back," Foreign Employment Minister Athauda Senevirathne Senevirathne told a press conference in Colombo.

A batch of 776 Sri Lankans would nevertheless be evacuated from Beirut on Thursday, Senevirathne said, five days after a first group of 276 people returned to Colombo at the weekend.

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