UK and US issue urgent plea for citizens to leave Lebanon amid fears of escalation

The UK and the US issued urgent pleas for citizens to “leave Lebanon now”, amid rising concerns of a wider Middle East war, as they deployed military personnel, fighter jet squadrons and consular experts to help in the embattled region.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said Saturday night Britons should use any commercial options still working, acknowledging potential exit routes were already limited or closed.

The FCDO added that Border Force, consular officials and military personnel had been deployed to support embassy staff there. Foreign secretary David Lammy warned “tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly”.

The US embassy in Beirut, meanwhile, urged its nationals to “book any ticket available” out of Lebanon noting that several flights had already been cancelled and that military evacuations were rare.

The Pentagon had already announced that the US will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region in preparation for any escalation. Jordan also issued an emergency directive telling its citizens to leave “as soon as possible’“.

The Canadian government followed with a statement saying “now is the time to leave”. It comes amid concerns of full blown regional war, after Iran vowed vengeance following the assassinations of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and Fuad Shukr, senior commander in Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Beirut on Tuesday.

Israel – that has been blamed for both killings – has vowed to eliminate leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas over its 7 October attack on Israel that sparked Israel’s heaviest ever bombardment of Gaza and a siege.

Hamas, which rules the besieged enclave, killed over 1000 people and took more than 250 hostages in the 7 October massacre.

Since then the Palestinian health ministry says Israel’s ferocious bombing of Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people, the majority women and children and the siege has sparked famine.

US president Joe Biden has said he is “very concerned” that the violence in the Middle East could escalate, adding that the killing of a top Hamas leader, who was also a negotiator in ongoing talks, has “not helped” efforts to negotiate a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr Biden told reporters he had a “very direct” conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. “We have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it and they should move on it now,” he added, echoing calls for a truce from his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Israeli media reported that the Thursday call which Vice President Kamala Harris also joined, had gone so badly President Biden allegedly told Mr Netanyahu to “stop bullshitting me” over his claims of progress in a hostage ceasefire deal with Gaza.

This exchange, first reported by Israel’s Channel 12 on Saturday night, was allegedly followed by the American leader telling Mr Netanyahu “don’t take the president for granted.” The US is Israel’s biggest supplier of weapons.

The Independent reached out to the Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

Mr Netanyahu has said Israel was determined to win nothing less than “total victory” against Hamas, and that he was working for a cease-fire he hoped to have soon.

On Saturday, an Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief arrived in Cairo, according to Egyptian officials. However Mr Netanyahu has been accused of putting his personal interests first and deliberately prolonging the war, with Israeli media publishing alleged leaks of a recent heated meeting between the premier and his security and defence chiefs.

In the meeting Channel 12 – citing sources familiar with the incident – said the premier allegedly shouted at his team, who accused him of introducing conditions in the truce hostage deal that he knew Hamas would not accept.

The Independent also reached out to the PMO’s office for comment but has yet to receive a reply.Meanwhile airlines, including US carriers United and Delta as well as Germany’s Lufthansa group have scrambled to re-route away from the Middle East airspace and have also cancelled some flights, amid surging concerns of regional instability.

Israeli media reported on Saturday that some internal flights within Israel had been cancelled.

On Saturday Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps reiterated its pledge to retailate. In a statement carried by Iranian state TV it accused the US of supporting Israel’s alleged attack on Haniyeh in the Iranian capital.

Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the inauguration of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.Israel continued its ferocious bombardment of Gaza, with an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced persons in Gaza City killing at least 15 Palestinians on Saturday.

It came hours after two strikes in the occupied West Bank killed nine militants including a local Hamas commander, Hamas said.

The Israeli military said the first of two West Bank airstrikes hit a vehicle in a town near the city of Tulkarm, targeting a militant cell it said was on its way to carry out an attack.