Britain announced on Sunday that it had removed the families of embassy staff from Beirut due to the unstable security conditions in Lebanon and once again urged its citizens in the country to depart due to the potential for increased tensions in the Middle East.
"We are extremely worried about the very unstable security situation in Lebanon," stated a spokesperson from the foreign office, noting that extra consular staff, border control, and military personnel had been sent to the area.
"We have also temporarily relocated the families of staff at the British Embassy in Beirut... All British nationals should leave Lebanon immediately, while commercial travel options are still open." On Saturday, the UK government advised its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country promptly, amid concerns about rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and the possibility of a wider regional conflict.
Hezbollah's leader declared that the group would certainly retaliate for Israel's killing of its chief commander, following Israel's military announcement on Tuesday that it had killed Fuad Shukr, whom it identified as Hezbollah's highest-ranking commander and blamed for a recent attack that resulted in the deaths of a dozen young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Since October 7, Hezbollah has engaged in almost daily cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces after Israel initiated a military operation in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing violence has claimed the lives of at least 518 individuals in Lebanon, including at least 104 civilians, according to a count by AFP.
