Americans have been told to flee Lebanon now before flights are grounded after Hezbollah threatened to escalate the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
It comes as the US embassy warned there would be ‘no guarantee of evacuations in a crisis situation’.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the advice on Saturday on X (formerly Twitter).
“The @StateDept recommends that U.S. citizens in Lebanon leave now while commercial flights remain available due to the unpredictable security situation,” they wrote.
They said there are ‘available flight options at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport’ referring to the website.
Americans have been told to flee Lebanon now before flights are grounded after Hezbollah threatened to escalate the conflict between Israel and Hamas
“Provide a crisis response plan that does not rely on U.S. government support,” they continued.
‘The best time to leave a country is before a crisis, if at all possible. Military-assisted evacuations of civilians from abroad are rare.
“There is no guarantee that the U.S. government will evacuate American citizens and their family members in a crisis situation.”
It comes as Israeli forces clash with Hezbollah fighters along the border as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues.
Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes along the border with Lebanon on Saturday, while the militant Hezbollah group attacked several Israeli army posts, including one that was hit by two large rockets.
The escalation came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his powerful group is already engaged in unprecedented fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border.
He threatened further escalation as Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas, Hezbollah’s ally, approaches the one-month mark.
Hezbollah is prepared for all options, Nasrallah declared, “and we can use them at any time.”
Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters attacked at least six Israeli posts along the border, saying “appropriate missiles and weapons” were used. It added that “direct hits were scored and technical equipment was destroyed.”
The Beirut-based TV network Al-Mayadeen reported that Hezbollah fired two Burkan rockets, which carry heavy nuclear warheads, on Saturday at an Israeli post known in Lebanon as Jal al-Allam.
A Lebanese security official confirmed reports that Burkan missiles were used for the first time.
The rockets, whose name means “volcano” in Arabic, were previously used by Hezbollah and Syrian government forces to destroy the fortifications of Syrian opposition fighters.
They are one of a number of types of missiles and rockets that the heavily armed Hezbollah has in its arsenal.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that fighters shot down a spy balloon that the Israeli army placed over the northern city of Misgaf Am.
On the outskirts of the village of Rmeish, in a rugged area along the border, an Israeli airstrike sent up thick gray smoke. Artillery shelling could be heard from afar.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported airstrikes around several other border villages, including Labbouneh and Hibarieh.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee reported on X that Israeli warplanes, tanks and artillery fired at the fire source on the Lebanese side of the border.
The attack also targeted some Hezbollah weapons depots, infrastructure and posts used by the Lebanese militant group.
Hezbollah began attacking Israeli positions in the disputed Chebaa Farms area along the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria on October 8. Within days, the attacks spread throughout the border area.
On Saturday, Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed along the border, bringing the total death toll for the militant group since fighting began to 56.
Ten civilians, including a Reuters journalist, were killed, as were several Palestinian fighters.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has close ties with Hamas and concerns are growing that the regional conflict could escalate.
Nasrallah previously praised the brutal and bloody attack Hamas launched on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people, most of them Israeli civilians, and took hundreds of others hostage.