The UK has “temporarily withdrawn” the families of embassy officials from Lebanon amid concerns that the killings of leading Hamas and Hezbollah leaders last week could spark fresh conflict in the region.
British citizens living in Lebanon have already been advised to leave the country, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy warning on Saturday that “tensions are high, and the situation could deteriorate rapidly”.
“While we are working round the clock to strengthen our consular presence in Lebanon, my message to British nationals there is clear – leave now,” he said in a statement.
In a fresh update on Sunday, the Foreign Office said it was “deeply concerned with the highly volatile security situation in Lebanon” and that it had deployed additional consular officials, Border Force and UK military personnel to the region.
“The embassy continues to provide support to British nationals. The situation will continue to be monitored closely,” it said. “All British nationals should leave Lebanon now, while commercial routes are still available.”
It comes after France and the United States warned their citizens to leave Lebanon immediately as multiple airlines shut down routes in and out of the country.
The US has announced it will move additional warships and fighter jets into the region amid concerns of conflict in Lebanon and has told Americans to leave on “any ticket available”.
The US embassy in Beirut advised those who cannot leave Lebanon to “prepare contingency plans” in case they are required to “shelter in place for an extended period of time”.
Similar warnings have also been issued by Australia, Italy, Canada and South Korea.
The latest tensions were sparked after a missile attack on 27 July on a football field in Golan Heights – an Israeli-occupied area of Syria – killed 12 children.
Israel blamed the deaths on the Iran-backed military organisation Hezbollah, but the group has denied responsibility for the strike.
On Wednesday, just days after pledging retaliation for the Golan Heights attack, Israel claimed responsibility for the assassination of Fuad Shukr, military chief of Hezbollah, in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
It was also announced on the same day that Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh had been assassinated in Tehran, with Iran blaming the attack on Israel and the US.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has stated it his country’s “duty” to avenge Haniyeh’s death and has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel for the attack.
During a call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday, Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Baqeri Kani, also said that his country would “undoubtedly use its inherent and legitimate right” to “punish” Israel.
Hezbollah, which is an ally of Hamas in the conflict with Israel, has frequently launched attacks along Lebanon’s border with Israel since the conflict in Gaza began last October.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, the group launched dozens of rockets across Israel’s southern border shortly after it vowed to respond to the death of its military chief, although no casualties were reported.
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