U.S. State Department urged American citizens in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial flights are still available, amid escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. In an updated travel advisory concerning Lebanon, the State Department noted, “Given the unpredictable nature of the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and the recent bombings across Lebanon, including Beirut, the U.S. Embassy advises American citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial transport options remain available.”
The update added, “At present, commercial flights are available but with limited capacity. Should the security situation worsen, commercial options to depart may become unavailable.” In late July, the United States escalated its travel warning to Lebanon to the highest level, ‘Do Not Travel,’ following a raid in Beirut’s southern suburbs that killed a senior Hezbollah leader.
Lebanese authorities stated on Saturday that rescue teams in Beirut are searching for people still missing under the rubble after an Israeli airstrike targeted Hezbollah leaders on Friday, killing at least 37 people in the capital’s southern suburbs. The Iran-backed group reported that leaders Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmad Wahbi were among the 16 members killed in the strike, marking the most intense attack in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
The Israeli military stated that the strike targeted an underground meeting including Aqil and leaders from Hezbollah’s elite unit, the Radwan Force, and that it nearly completely dismantled the group’s military command chain. A security source noted that the attack destroyed a multi-story residential building in the densely populated southern suburbs and damaged a nearby kindergarten.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that among the dead were three children and seven women. Cross-border attacks continued on Saturday as Israeli warplanes conducted the most intense bombing in the ongoing 11-month conflict in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel. The Israeli military reported that it targeted about 180 locations and destroyed thousands of rocket launch sites.
Friday’s attack marked a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and another blow to the group following attacks over the past week that involved detonating communication devices known as pagers and other radio devices (walkie-talkies) used by its members. The total death toll from these attacks has risen to 39, while the number of injured has surpassed three thousand.
