US, UK and France ask their citizens to leave Lebanon amid regional tensions

Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran on Wednesday, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut, has triggered pledges of vengeance from Iran and the so-called “axis of resistance“.

Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, and the Israeli army have been trading cross-border fire since the Israeli assault on Gaza began in October after Hamas led a rare attack inside the Israeli territory, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking roughly 240 others captive. At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed and 91,300 others wounded in Israel’s war on the besieged and bombarded enclave.

Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria have already been drawn into Israel’s nearly 10-month war on Gaza. But the assassinations this week of Haniyeh and Shukr have heightened fears of a regional conflagration.

On Saturday, Israel’s ally, the US, said it would move additional warships and fighter jets to the region and asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave on “any ticket available”.

The US embassy in Beirut asked its nationals to “prepare contingency plans” if they choose to stay in Lebanon and be prepared to “shelter in place for an extended period of time”.

The UK’s Foreign Office also urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave “now while commercial options remain available”.

“Tensions are high, and the situation could deteriorate rapidly,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.

“While we are working round the clock to strengthen our consular presence in Lebanon, my message to British nationals there is clear – leave now.”

On Sunday, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs issued a travel advisory, inviting its citizens in Lebanon to leave “as soon as possible” due to the risk of a military escalation.

“In a highly volatile security context, we once again call the attention of French nationals, particularly those passing through, to the fact that direct commercial flights and ones with stopovers to France are still available,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Canada told its nationals to avoid all travel to Israel. “The security situation can deteriorate further without warning,” the Canadian government said in a travel advisory.

The soaring tensions have also forced major airlines, including Dutch airline KLM, Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Swiss Airlines, to ground their flights to Israel, Iran and Lebanon.