Washington and London are asking their citizens to leave the country immediately. The US Embassy in Lebanon has urged its citizens to leave the country with “any available airline ticket” amid growing fears of an all-out war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Despite the suspensions and cancellations of flights to Beirut, the capital, “commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available,” the embassy said in a statement quoted by AFP.
“We encourage those wishing to leave Lebanon to book any available ticket, even if that flight does not depart immediately or follow the route of their choice,” the statement said.
Fears of a regional conflagration grew on Monday in the Middle East, where the United States reinforced its military forces following the assassination attributed to Israel of the Hamas leader and the death in an Israeli strike of a senior Hezbollah official, which Tehran and the Lebanese movement have vowed to avenge.
Faced with “the possibility of a regional escalation by Iran and its partners”, Washington announced on Friday “changes to the United States’ military posture” to “improve the protection of US armed forces, strengthen support for the defense of Israel and ensure that the United States is prepared for a range of contingencies”.
A similar appeal was also made by the British government, which also told its citizens this Saturday to leave Lebanon “now”, “while commercial links are available”, amid growing fears of a new military escalation between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.
“Tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly (…). My message to British citizens is clear: leave now”, declared the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, David Lammy.
Fears of a regional conflagration grew in the Middle East today, where the United States reinforced its military forces, following the assassination attributed to Israel of the leader of Hamas and the death, in an Israeli strike, of a senior Hezbollah official, which Tehran and the Lebanese movement have vowed to avenge.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran, was buried on Friday in a cemetery near Doha, after a tribute paid by thousands of faithful in the capital of Qatar, where he lived in exile.
Vowing revenge, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah accused Israel of the assassination, which came a day after an Israeli strike killed the military leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement, Fouad Shukr, near Beirut.
These two attacks fuel fears of a prolongation of the war between Israel, on the one hand, and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, on the other.
Iran’s UN representative said today that he expected Hezbollah to strike “deeply” into Israeli territory and “not limit itself to military targets.”
The Shiite movement, allied with Hamas, has been exchanging fire with the Israeli army along the Israeli-Lebanese border almost daily since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the Palestinian movement’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Ismail Haniyeh, 61, was killed by an “air projectile,” according to Iranian media, at a veterans’ residence in Tehran after attending the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian.
However, according to the Israeli army, the only attack carried out that night in the Middle East was the one in Beirut, which killed Fouad Shukr in a Hezbollah stronghold, his bodyguard and five civilians.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened Israel with “severe punishment”, while Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has warned of an “inevitable response”.
Tel Aviv and Haifa “are among the targets”, wrote the ultraconservative Iranian daily Kayhan today, predicting “painful human losses”.
But, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel is at a “very high level” of preparedness for any scenario, “both defensive and offensive”.
