West Urges Citizens To Leave West Asia Over Looming Fear Of Regional War (X image@netanyahupress)

Several countries including US, UK, and France have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon immediately as tensions rise in West Asia after the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran on Wednesday, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut, has triggered severe tension in the region, with Iran and its axis of resistance pledging vengeance.

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

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

Also Read: How Iran, Israel, And US Is Preparing For A Regional War In West Asia

“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.”

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.

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

Also Read: What Is Hezbollah – How Formidable Is The Lebanese Group?

The volatile situation 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.

India, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, and Spain also issued travel advisories to their citizens in Lebanon in the wake threats of a regional escalation.

Hezbollah, the Iran aligned group in Lebanon, and Israel have been trading cross-border fire since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza. Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria have already been drawn into Israel’s nearly 10-month war on Gaza. However, the assassinations this week of Haniyeh and Shukr have bolstered fears of a regional conflagration.