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Rabat – Several countries, including the US, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia, among others, have urged their citizens to avoid traveling to Lebanon in the wake of rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.
The US Embassy in Beirut issued a statement on Thursday “reminding” US citizens of the current Travel Advisory to Lebanon and warning them that “the Lebanese government cannot guarantee the protection of U.S. citizens against sudden outbreaks of violence and armed conflict.”
It particularly warned US nationals against traveling to “Southern Lebanon, the Lebanon-Syria border, and refugee settlements.”
The Lebanon-Israeli border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza, with tensions further escalating in the past couple of weeks.
Israeli forces have been striking deeper into Lebanese territory, claiming the lives of several civilians. Al Jazeera reported today that a Lebanese person was killed in the country’s Western Bekaa district after an Israeli drone hit their motorcycle.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces carried out an air attack on the Aitaroun village in southern Lebanon.
In an updated travel advisory on Wednesday, Germany’s Foreign Office called on German nationals to “urgently” leave Lebanon. “Tensions in the border area with Israel are heightened and could escalate further at any time,” the travel advisory added.
Meanwhile, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that the current travel warning for Lebanon is “red,” urging its citizens to leave the country while commercial flights are still available.
“It is unsafe in Lebanon, and the situation remains very unpredictable,” the ministry warned.
Canada on Tuesday urged its nationals to leave Lebanon “while they can.” The country’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly warned that “the security situation in Lebanon is becoming volatile and unpredictable due to sustained and escalating violence between Hezbollah and Israel and could deteriorate further without warning.”
Canadian news outlet CBC reported today that Canada has set out plans to evacuate around 20,000 of its nationals from Lebanon.
Al Jazeera reported that, since October 7, Israel, Hezbollah, and other armed groups in Lebanon exchanged at least 7,400 attacks. Israel carried out a whopping 83% of these attacks, which killed at least 543 people in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hezbollah and other armed groups killed at least 21 Israelis.
Amid the escalating tension, Israeli officials said they do not want war in Lebanon, but warned it could send its northern neighbor “back to the Stone age.”
