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The US embassy in Beirut has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon on “any ticket available”, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East.
The advisory follows a similar warning from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said the situation “could deteriorate rapidly”.
Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas chief Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
It is feared that Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, could play a heavy role in any such retaliation, which in-turn could spark a serious Israeli response.
The US embassy stated on Saturday that those who choose to stay in Lebanon should “prepare contingency plans” and be prepared to “shelter in place for an extended period of time”.
It said that several airlines have suspended and cancelled flights, and many have sold out, but “commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available".
The Pentagon said it was deploying additional warships and fighter jets to the region to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies.
The UK said it was sending extra military personnel, consular staff and border force officials to help with any evacuations - but urged UK citizens to leave the country “while commercial flights are running".
Two British military ships are already in the region and the Royal Air Force has put transport helicopters on standby.
Mr Lammy said it was “in no-one’s interest for this conflict to spread across the region”.
In April, Iran launched an air attack on Israel using 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and at least 110 ballistic missiles.
That was in retaliation for the Israeli bombing of an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.
Many fear Iran’s retaliation on this occasion could take a similar form.
In a phone call with EU Foreign Policy Chief Joseph Borrell on Friday, Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani said Iran would “undoubtedly use its inherent and legitimate right” to “punish” Israel.
On Friday, an announcer on Iran’s state TV warned “the world would witness extraordinary scenes”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis that “challenging days lie ahead… We have heard threats from all sides. We are prepared for any scenario”.
Israeli ministers were sent home this weekend with satellite phones in case of an attack on the country’s communication infrastructure.
Tensions between Israel and Iran initially escalated with the killing of 12 children and teenagers in a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel accused Hezbollah and vowed “severe” retaliation, though Hezbollah denied it was involved.
Days later, senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in a targeted Israeli air strike in Beirut. Four others, including two children, were also killed.
Hours after that, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran, Hamas’s main backer. He was visiting to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
At a funeral ceremony for Haniyeh in Tehran on Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers. He had earlier vowed that Israel would suffer a “harsh punishment” for the killing.
Meanwhile in Gaza, 10 people in a school sheltering displaced persons were killed by an Israeli strike, Hamas said on Saturday.
The Israeli military says the school in Gaza City was being used as a command centre for militants. Hamas has denied it operates from civilian facilities.
How is Israel supposed to survive this? I have to imagine that if a war breaks out that isn’t just a one-sided genocide, Israelis will leave the country in droves because many of them can, more so than probably any other nation on Earth. Highest rate of dual-citizenship on the planet and most of them are only 1-2 generations removed from European/US ancestry, many of them will have family in Western countries. They’re already leaving and it’s not even raining bombs yet.
Hamas is nowhere near destroyed. Israel is already being forced to conscript its ultra-orthodox population. Now they wanna fight Hezbollah? What is the plan here? Why does the US allow this to happen? How does Israel get out of this?
That’s not a guarantee let alone something they should realistically consider. The time to leave was 9 months ago, did you see how airlines are canceling trips to and from Israel? If airlines aren’t flying them out then they aren’t getting out. If they manage to take them via ship through the Mediterranean and into Europe, that might work for some.
We’re talking about roughly 7.4M settlers, most of those people are not going to be able to leave. On top of that, the leaders of the entity know that the project fails when settlers start leaving. Settlers leaving is the actual existential crisis, not Hamas or Hezbollah or even Iran.
What you’re going to see happen is the state preventing able bodied men and women from leaving, much like Ukraine. Everyone that can hold a gun, will hold a gun.
Settlers cannot leave. From the perspective of the Zionist leaders, it’s better for settlers to die than to leave in droves. At least you can argue that they stayed and fought for the land, even if the settlers never got to make that choice themselves.
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We’re going to see Ukraine kinda repeat itself in Isntrael. Yeah get ready for more van videos and maybe even settler on settler violence on the basis of “hunting down the Arabs”
People will turn on each other, there won’t be any unity in the colonial project.
That’s what I don’t understand, didn’t Hezbollah pretty much peace out against Israel until recently? How is Israel being this aggressive with their entire economy falling apart?
Because zionism is a fundamentally deranged ideology.
I want to believe that it is a simple as that and that they will destroy themselves, but I’m still terrified for Iran, Yemen, Lebanon and the rest of the resistance.
I mean, yeah. Those motherfuckers have nukes. And they’re more likely to actually use them than anyone else.