Which countries are warning against travel to Lebanon?

An uptick in clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border has heightened international fears of an Israeli invasion.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday again threatened to “take Lebanon back to the Stone Age”, echoing comments he made in August last year following tension between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has also made threats to Israel, warning that if such an invasion were to occur, the group would “fight without limits, rules, or restraint.”

Israel’s last invasion of Lebanon in 2006, lasting 34 days, saw the evacuation of thousands of foreign citizens from Lebanon with the US, UK and European states evacuating citizens to Cyprus.

The New Arab looks at which governments have advised their citizens against travel to Lebanon and whether any countries are making evacuation plans.

Warnings to leave, advisories against travel

As a result of the tension and increased clashes, a number of countries have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon due to fears of escalation.

The Canadian embassy in Beirut is warning its citizens to “leave Lebanon while commercial options remain available” and to avoid all travel to the country.

The warning, and fear that commercial avenues of leaving Lebanon could be closed, was echoed in other advisories, including Ireland, which also called on its citizens to leave the country.

Additionally, Germany, the Netherlands, North Macedonia and Sweden have also called on their citizens to leave.

Kuwait joined those calls, urging Kuwaiti workers who are unable to leave to contact the embassy in Lebanon.

Other countries have issued travel advisories for visiting Lebanon, including Russia, the US, France, Australia, Spain and the UK.

Evacuation plans

In addition to travel warnings and calls to leave the country, some states are currently making plans to evacuate their citizens in the event an invasion does occur.

This includes Canada, with Chief of the Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre saying on Thursday that the military was drawing up plans to evacuate 20,000 Canadians from the country in the event of the outbreak of war.

According to Eyre, the evacuation uses a maritime route to Cyprus and is akin to the 2006 evacuation that saw 15,000 people leave Lebanon.

Eyre added, however, that the government could not do it alone, saying, “It will very much be a coalition effort, and we are tightly tied in – very tight – with our allies.”

According to NBC News, citing three US officials, the US military is also actively planning to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon in the event of a war.

The report notes that the USS Wasp and Marines from the 24th Expeditionary Unit had moved into the Mediterranean to assist evacuations, as well as project a deterrent to any regional escalation.

During the 2006 war, the US evacuated 15,000 people from the country.

The New Arab contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) about any UK evacuation plans and was referred to the FCDO website for Lebanon travel advice.