Urgent New Calls for foreigners to leave Lebanon as war fears grow

 Several countries have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon, as fears grow of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. Israel has not commented.

His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. 

Western officials fear that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia and political movement based in Lebanon, could play a key role in any such retaliation, which in turn could spark a serious Israeli response.

Diplomatic efforts by the US and other Western countries continue to try to de-escalate tensions across the region.

A growing number of flights have been cancelled or suspended at the country’s only commercial airport in Beirut.

The US, the UK, Australia, France, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey and Jordan are among the countries to have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.

Fears of an escalation of hostilities that could engulf Lebanon are at their highest since Hezbollah stepped up its attacks on Israel, a day after the deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, in support for Palestinians in Gaza.

Most of the violence has been contained to border areas, with both sides indicating not being interested in a wider conflict.

Hezbollah, however, has vowed to respond to Shukr’s assassination, which happened in Dahiyeh, the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

It came after 12 children and teenagers were killed in a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah. Israel said Shukr was the behind it.

Meanwhile there has been continuing firing between the two sides. Hezbollah said it launched drones at a military barracks in Ayelet HaShahar, northern Israel, in the early hours of Monday morning. The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded.

It came a day after Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at the nearby town of Beit Hillel. There were no reports of casualties from that attack.

Israel’s air force responded by striking targets in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah fighter and a paramedic were killed in a strike on the town of Mays al-Jabal, less than a mile from the border with Israel.

In a separate development on Sunday morning, two people were killed in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Holon. The attacker, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, was later “neutralised”, police said.

Also on Sunday, officials from the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza said an Israeli air strike had hit a tent inside a hospital, killing at least five people. The officials said 19 Palestinians had been killed across the day.

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