News Desk
The Advocate Post: Several countries have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon, as fears grow of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Iran has promised “severe” reprisal against Israel, which it holds accountable for Ismail Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran on Wednesday. Israel has not offered a statement.
His murder occurred in Beirut, hours after Israel assassinated senior Hezbollah commander FuadShukr.
Western officials worry that any such reprisal may be heavily influenced by Hezbollah, a political movement and militia with Iranian backing that is located in Lebanon, which might lead to a severe Israeli response. The US and other Western nations are still attempting to defuse tensions in the region through diplomacy.
At Beirut, the only commercial airport in the nation, an increasing number of flights have been canceled or suspended.
A number of nations, including the US, UK, Australia, France, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey, and Jordan, have asked their nationals to evacuate Lebanon as soon as possible.
A day after Hamas’s devastating attacks on southern Israel on October 7, Hezbollah increased its attacks on Israel in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. Since then, fears of a hostilities escalation that may engulf Lebanon have reached an all-time high.
With both sides expressing little interest in a larger confrontation, the most of the violence has been restricted to border regions.
Hezbollah, on the other hand, has promised to react to Shukr’s killing, which took place in Dahiyeh, the group’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
It happened following a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that claimed the lives of twelve children and teens, an event Israel attributed on Hezbollah. Israel claimed that Shukr was responsible.
The two sides have been continuing to fire in the interim. Early on Monday morning, Hezbollah claimed to have fired drones at a military base in northern Israel’s Ayelet Ha Shahar. According to the Israeli military, two troops were hurt.
