Urgent calls for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon grew on Sunday with France warning of ‘a highly volatile’ situation as Iran and its allies ready their response to high-profile killings blamed on Israel.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement announced its fighters had fired a barrage of rockets at Israel’s north overnight.
The Israeli military said 30 projectiles were launched from Lebanon, with most of them intercepted.
With Israel on high alert anticipating major military action from Tehran-aligned armed groups including Hezbollah and Hamas, medics and police said two people were killed on Sunday in a stabbing attack in a Tel Aviv suburb.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday called on its citizens to leave Lebanon without delay, as regional tensions soar following high-profile killings in Tehran and Beirut blamed on Israel amid the Gaza war.
The Saudi embassy in Beirut said in a statement posted on social media platform X that it was ‘following closely the developments in south Lebanon’, near the border with Israel, and ‘reiterating its call for Saudi nationals to leave Lebanon’s territory immediately’.
France, Canada and Jordan were among the latest governments to issue calls for their citizens to leave Lebanon.
‘In a highly volatile security context’, French nationals were ‘urgently asked’ to avoid travelling to Lebanon, and those already in the country ‘to make their arrangements now to leave... as soon as possible’, the foreign ministry in Paris said.
The United States and Britain have issued similar warnings.
Several Western airlines have suspended flights to the region.
On Sunday Qatar Airways said that ‘in light of recent developments in Lebanon’, the Doha-Beirut route ‘will operate exclusively during daylight hours’ at least until Monday.
The killing Wednesday of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, has triggered vows of vengeance from Iran and the so-called ‘axis of resistance’ of Tehran-backed armed groups.
Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of carrying out the attack that killed Haniyeh, has not directly commented on it.
