People scramble to airport over fears of imminent all-out conflict in Lebanon
'My message to British nationals there is clear – leave now.'
There are long lines at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport as the window to flee Lebanon is closing down amid concerns that the conflict in the Middle East will escalate.
Tensions in the region have spiralled in the last week after Israel assassinated the head of Hamas in Tehran, and killed a top commander in Hezbollah in a strike on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Both Hezbollah and Iran vowed to retaliate, and an attack on Israel is expected in 48 hours, according to Axios, citing US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
Britain, Ireland, Italy, France, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Jordan have all urged their citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial flights are still available.
Multiple airlines operating to and from the Mediterranean country’s only airport have already been suspended or cancelled.
Foreign secretary David Lammy repeated the travel warning on Saturday, saying: ‘Tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.
‘While we are working round the clock to strengthen our consular presence in Lebanon, my message to British nationals there is clear – leave now.’
The Foreign Office said it is preparing for ‘a range of possible conflict scenarios’.
In the airport departure hall, people of Lebanese origin who were visiting for the summer lined up to check in to their departing flights earlier than planned.
Sherin Malah, who had travelled from Italy to see her mother and was heading home early, said: ‘It is just very sad, oh God, the situation is really sad.
‘We get out of a crisis, we go into another one.’
Emergency medical supplies for Lebanese hospitals for possible war injuries arrived in Beirut on Monday.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) delivered 32 tons of equipment, including at least 1,000 trauma kits.
Health minister Firass Abiad told reporters at the airport landing strip where the aid arrived: ‘The goal is to get these supplies and medicines to various hospitals and to the health sector in Lebanon, especially in the places most exposed (to hostilities) so that we can be ready to deal with any emergency.’
Hospitals in the south – where more than 100,000 people have been uprooted from their homes due to airstrikes between Israel and Hezbollah – are massively worn down by the conflict.
Unlike in Israel, where the state is funding temporary housing for those displaced by the war, families in Lebanon have received little to no state support.
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More than 80% of those displaced in Lebanon are being hosted by relatives or friends, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Another 14% are renting out homes and just 2% are living in collective shelters.
All in Lebanon – a nation that has previously been occupied by Israel – fear an escalation in strikes.
An unconfirmed report by US-based news site Axios said Blinken warned foreign ministers from the G7 countries on Sunday that attacks by Iran and Hezbollah on Israel could come ‘as early as Monday’.
He is reported as saying that any retaliation could come as early as the next 24 to 48 hours.
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