2024-07-30 04:32:28
The US embassy in Beirut has told its citizens to follow a crisis plan as Lebanon prepares for a military response from Israel following a Hezbollah strike on the Golan Heights, the Guardian reported.
American citizens should “make a plan of action and leave before the crisis begins” to “protect themselves and their loved ones,” Rena Bitter, who is in charge of consular affairs in Washington, wrote in X.
Washington is “extremely focused on Lebanon,” she added, and asked citizens to tell relatives planning to visit the country to “reconsider their trip” because of the threat of an escalation of the conflict in the region.
German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock also said she had spoken to several people, including her counterpart in Lebanon, in an attempt to defuse the situation and prevent an escalation, a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“We are very concerned about the situation of the German citizens and we are preparing to deal with the case,” the spokesperson added.
The warnings came as Israel braces for the possibility of several days of fighting following the attack on a soccer field that killed 12 children and youths. Israel has previously carried out strikes against southern Lebanon, but has so far refrained from serious retaliation. Israel wants to “hurt Hezbollah” but does not want to drag the region into war, a senior Israeli official said today.
The German government called on all parties involved in the conflict in the Middle East, and especially Iran, to work to prevent escalation. Berlin “categorically accepts” that the deadly attack was carried out by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a ministry spokesman told a briefing.
Recent actions by Yemen’s Houthis, also backed by Iran, have added to instability in the region in recent weeks, he added.
Saturday’s strike raises fears of an escalation of the conflict in the region, where tensions are escalating over Israel’s war in Gaza, which began more than nine months ago, BTA reported.
Additionally, a foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin said Germany was not alarmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warnings of a Cold War-style missile crisis.
Putin said yesterday that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, Russia would deploy similar missiles capable of hitting targets in Western countries.