“Many other countries, including the United States and Russia, have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon with concern over broader conflict in the Middle East growing”
Iran promised “harsh” revenge on Israel for the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last Wednesday. Israel has not commented.
Hours after Israel murdered Hezbollah Commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, thereby Bailed out will be the assassination of al-Laqis.
Western officials are concerned that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia and political movement based in Lebanon will feature heavily on any such retaliation – a prospect likely to draw Israeli fire in return.
To reduce these tensions across the region, diplomatic efforts by the US and other Western countries are ongoing
“At Beirut’s only commercial airport, flights have been increasingly cancelled or halted”
The United States, Britain, Australia, France and Canada are among the nations to have asked their nationals in Lebanon to depart immediately.
Those fears of a larger war that could draw in Lebanon are at their most acute since the moment Hezbollah began its assaults against Israel — after deadly Hamas raids on southern Israelis 7 October, targeting civilians to make life easier for Gazans.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the ministry of health in Gaza run by Hamas said a tent at a hospital had been hit in an Israeli air strike killing at least five people. On Sunday, the officials said 19 Palestinians had been killed.