On August 3, the United States Embassy in Lebanon urged its citizens to leave the country “by any means available,” amid fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah and a wider regional conflict.
Despite the suspension and cancellation of flights, “commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available,” the embassy said in a statement.
“We encourage those who want to leave Lebanon to book any ticket that is available to them, even if that flight does not take off immediately or does not follow the first choice route,” the US Embassy stated, RSE reports.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on August 2 that the United States intends to strengthen its defensive military capabilities in the Middle East to protect its troops there and its ally Israel.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, said on Friday that he is very concerned about the situation in the Middle East and at the same time called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quickly reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Iran and its affiliated groups are preparing a response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Hani. Hani’s assassination took place on July 31, and is attributed to Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Tehran.
His death occurred a day after an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shokur near Beirut.
Those two attacks are reviving fears of the war spreading to the entire Middle East, between Israel on the one hand and Iran and the groups that support it in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen on the other.
