BRITAIN is calling on its citizens to immediately leave Lebanon as tensions in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continue to rise.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned the situation could “deteriorate rapidly” and urged Brits to leave while they still can.
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It comes after 37 people were killed and over 3,000 injured in remote-controlled device explosions across Lebanon this week.
Israeli Mossad spies twice surprised terror group Hezbollah by hiding explosives inside their pagers and walkie-talkies and setting them off.
Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to seek revenge and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched airstrikes above southern Lebanon today as tensions soar.
Mr Lammy tweeted today: “My message to British nationals in Lebanon is leave while commercial options remain.
“Tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.”
The Foreign Office has advised against all travel to Lebanon since October last year when the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas exploded.
The IDF said their attacks today are intended to “degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and infrastructure”.
At least 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from northern Israel amid almost-daily attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon over the border.
Israel has vowed to return them to their homes as it marked a “new phase of war” and shifted hordes of troops north yesterday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened a “crushing response” against Israel for the hack attacks this week.
Lebanese security forces claim Israeli spooks planted explosives inside thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah, months before the blitz.
Top brass inside the militant group had ordered its fighters to swap phones for pagers in a failed move to keep Israel from tracking them.
Mossad reportedly intercepted the devices on the supply route and packed them with the explosive PETN.
After the initial wave of pager blasts on Tuesday, other devices including walkie-talkies, fingerprint scanners, home solar systems and radios also exploded in Lebanon on Wednesday.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah hit out against Israel in a speech today, saying the “enemy” had crossed “all limits, rules and red lines” in a “massacre”.
He dubbed it a “declaration of war”.
The IDF said it hit 30 Hezbollah strongholds in today’s airstrikes – targeting 150 launcher barrels they said were “ready to fire projectiles toward Israeli territory”.
It vowed to continue to “operate against the threat of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in order to defend the State of Israel”.
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