Foreign embassies announce precautionary measures amid fears of an all-out Israel-Hezbollah war
BEIRUT: Foreign embassies in Lebanon continued to take precautions on Saturday amid fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty expressed his country's “deep concern over the dangerous escalation” in the region in a phone call with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib. Abdelatty reaffirmed Egypt's support for Lebanon in “confronting the threats surrounding it,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The Egyptian statement came as the US and UK urged their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately.
Despite flight suspensions and flight cancellations, “commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available,” the U.S. Embassy said.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said tensions “are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.”
The Swedish embassy recently announced that it would move its staff to Cyprus due to security concerns.
In light of the escalating tension, several airlines have canceled or extended the suspension of their flights to Beirut. The Netherlands' Transavia Airlines extended the suspension of its flights to and from Beirut until Tuesday, as did Air France. Kuwait Airways will cancel flights to and from Beirut starting Monday.
The Israeli army resumed its assassinations of Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon and on the Beirut-Damascus road on Saturday, while Israel awaits Hezbollah's response to the killing of its top military commander, Fuad Shukr, on Tuesday.
An Israeli raid targeted a residential building in Beirut's southern suburbs, killing seven civilians, and an Israeli military drone targeted a car on Tyre's Al-Bazuriyya road, setting it on fire and killing its driver. Hezbollah identified the victim as Nazih Abed Ali from the southern village of Aitit. The victim was reportedly the brother of an ambulance paramedic – Mahmoud Abed Ali – who rushed to the scene of the attack. Videos circulating on social media showed Mahmoud at the site, a few kilometers from Aitit, saying that “crying is forbidden” and that he would collect the remains of his brother, “who is a father of three.”
The Public Health Emergency Operations Center confirmed that the attack killed one person and injured two others.
A few hours later, the Syrian Observatory announced the death of one person in an Israeli raid targeting a car on the Damascus-Beirut road.
Israel also increased its hostilities on the Lebanese-Syrian borders on Friday night and Saturday morning. Israeli warplanes targeted the surroundings of Al-Qusayr and the Al-Dabaa military airport.
Israeli forces also struck the Matraba crossing – an illegal crossing used by Hezbollah to transport trucks and members from Lebanon to Syria and vice versa.
Israel also targeted a truck convoy in the area around Hosh Al-Sayyid Ali, killing a Syrian driver, according to AFP.
Israeli shelling of houses in border villages including Rab Al-Thalathin, Houla, Tayr Harfa, Aita Al-Shaab and Mays Al-Jabal resulted in the destruction of property but no additional casualties.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had targeted Israeli military positions with missiles, including “Al-Assi site, Al-Summaqah site in the occupied Kfarshuba hills, a military force in the Avivim settlement and a building used by Israeli soldiers in Mattat solution.”
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah vowed at Shukr's funeral to take “decisive action” and warned Israelis they would be “left in tears instead of laughing”.
Several security sources reported that Hezbollah had evacuated locations in the southern suburbs of Beirut, including homes occupied by party officials, as a precaution.
Since hostilities began on October 8, the total number of casualties among Hezbollah, its allies and civilians, both Lebanese and non-Lebanese, is 521.
Israeli media reported on Saturday an “unusual incident in northern Israel, specifically in the settlement of Liman in the Upper Galilee, where a man tried to infiltrate Lebanon.” The man's identity was not disclosed.
