US Embassy advises Americans to leave Lebanon ‘now’

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon is urging Americans to leave the country, as fighting breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

In a Monday advisory, the embassy said U.S. citizens should “depart Lebanon now while commercial flight options remain available,” citing a “volatile and unpredictable” security situation. U.S. citizens are encouraged to check flight options at Beirut-Hariri International Airport, but the embassy notes that flights may be cancelled “at any time.”

On Sunday evening, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on social platform X it was striking Hezbollah targets across Lebanon in “response to projectile fire toward northern Israel.” Hezbollah is considered the most powerful of Iran’s proxies. 

The IDF said early Monday morning it “precisely struck senior Hezbollah terrorists” in Beirut, as well as “dozens” of Hezbollah and Iranian command centers and a site in Tyre, Lebanon, where it said the paramilitary group stored weapons. 

Less than two hours later, the IDF said it killed Hussein Makled, the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, in a “precise strike in Beirut.”

The Lebanese Public Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli strikes killed 31 people and injured 149.

As those strikes continue, the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon said it has “no ability” to assist Americans in the country. The embassy said that U.S. citizens should not come to the embassy until further notice and prepare to shelter in place in Lebanon “should the situation deteriorate.”

“Airstrikes have occurred throughout the country, especially in the south, the Beqaa, and parts of Beirut,” the embassy added. 

The embassy is also “strongly” encouraging U.S. citizens in southern Lebanon, near the borders with Syria, in refugee settlements and in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut to depart “immediately.”

Other embassies throughout the region, including in Bahrain, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, are encouraging U.S. citizens in those countries to take varying degrees of caution. The joint U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran is now in its third day.

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