The U.S. and several European countries are urging their citizens to leave Lebanon as Iran and Hezbollah threaten to launch a major terrorist offensive against Israel.
France and Italy become the latest countries to call upon their nationals to leave Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon. “France and Italy on Sunday urged their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country due to the risk of military escalation in the Middle East,” Reuters reports.
On Sunday, Politico reported the measures taken by Western countries:
The U.S., the U.K. and Sweden have issued similar recommendations to leave Lebanon. In a statement on Saturday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy pressed U.K. citizens in Lebanon to “leave now” as “the situation could deteriorate rapidly.”Several airline companies have suspended flights to and from Beirut due to the worsening security situation, including French operators Air France and Transavia France, and German flag carrier Lufthansa.
Iran is dragging Lebanon into war after several Tehran-backed top terrorists — including Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah deputy chief Fuad Shukr — were killed in targeted strikes attributed to Israel.
The Iranian regime declared an Islamic war of ‘vengeance’ against Israel after Hamas leader Haniyeh was killed in an explosion at his Tehran residence Wednesday night. The Mullah regime blames Israel for the strike that killed one of the main masterminds behind the October 7 massacre.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported Thursday:
A red flag was hoisted over the Jamkaran mosque on Wednesday, July 31, a significant site for Twelver Shi’ism near the religious city of Qom. This act was a symbol of “great vengeance” following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which was attributed to Israel. The flag had previously been raised in January 2020 after the US killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and a key figure in the “axis of resistance” against Israel.
Western governments are issuing travel warning as Hezbollah continues to fire rockets at Israeli towns and cities.
The IDF intercepted dozens of Hezbollah rockets. These cross-border rockets rained down on Israel nearly a week after an Iranian-made Hezbollah missile hit a children’s soccer game in Golan Heights, killed 12 children and wounding several others.
“Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel overnight, approximately 30 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon, most of which were intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array,” the Israeli military said in a press statement Sunday.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) “struck the Hezbollah launcher from which the projectiles were launched and additional terrorist infrastructure in the area of Marjaayoun in southern Lebanon,” the IDF disclosed.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Home Front Command — the military branch responsible for protecting civilian population — is gearing up for further escalation by Hezbollah in the north.
“We are determined to continue fighting until we fundamentally change the security situation in the north and can bring the residents of the north back home, from a place of safety and a sense of security,” head of IDF’s Home Front Command, Major General Rafi Milo, said in a statement released Sunday. “We are preparing and are prepared for any scenario and any response.”
Over 60,000 Israelis have been forced to leave their homes amid relentless cross-border rocket and mortar attacks by the Iran-backed terrorist group since October 7, the BBC reported last week.
Israeli troops discovered a 3-meter-tell terror tunnel between Hamas stronghold of Rafah and Egypt. The Hamas tunnel was located beneath the Philadelphi Corridor, a 9-mile-long stripe that runs along terrorist-controlled Gaza and Egypt.
The latest discovery is part of a massive tunnel network built underneath the corridor. Israeli “troops have located and destroyed dozens of routes” in the area, the IDF revealed in a press release Sunday.
“At the beginning of last week, in one of the operations to locate underground tunnel routes in the Philadelphi area, a three meter high tunnel was uncovered on the Philadelphi Corridor,” the IDF statement said. “At this stage, the troops are continuing with the investigation and neutralization of the underground tunnel route, as well as other large-scale routes that were found.”
The Philadelphi Corridor has been used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and move terrorist commanders and fighters in and out of Gaza. “Hamas smuggling tunnels below the Philadelphia route [the Egypt-Gaza border] raise two challenges for Israel, as they enable the illicit transit of weaponry into Gaza and may facilitate the escape of Hamas leaders, thus circumventing Israeli apprehension or attacks.” noted Israeli strategic analyst Joe Truzman noted in an October 2023 report.
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