Turkey is preparing for the possible evacuation of its citizens and foreign nationals from Lebanon as cross-border fire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah continues, a Turkish defense ministry source said Thursday.

The military has the "capability and resources to carry out any mission assigned to it for the safe evacuation of our citizens or foreign nationals from Lebanon," the source said during a briefing.

"Preliminary planning and preparations for a potential evacuation operation are being made," the source said, adding that Turkey had successfully completed similar operations before and was closely monitoring developments in Lebanon.