Kuwait orders urgent evacuation of citizens in Lebanon
Kuwait is alerting its citizens who are currently in Lebanon. The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ordered an urgent evacuation of the territory neighboring Israel due to fears of an escalation and the outbreak of a full-scale war between the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah and Israel.
8:26 AM EDT, June 22, 2024
The Kuwaiti agency, citing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, added that citizens who cannot leave Lebanon alone should immediately contact the Kuwaiti embassy. The ministry also urged avoiding travel to Lebanon.
Fearing Israel's move
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted on Friday the increasing tension between Israel and Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon. One rash move could trigger an unimaginable disaster. We cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza Strip, he warned.
Since the fall of 2023, which marks the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, Iran-backed Hezbollah has been regularly shelling Israeli territory, and the Israeli army has been returning fire. Tens of thousands of civilians have been evacuated from the border areas of both countries.
In the past week, the Israeli army approved a plan for an offensive on Lebanon. At the same time, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that the organization's attacks would not cease until a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, the Canadian authorities announced plans to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon. The country is preparing to evacuate 45,000 people, Israeli television Channel 12 reported, citing a Friday conversation between the foreign ministers of Canada and Israel, Melanie Joly and Israel Katz. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website in Ottawa, 40,000-75,000 Canadian citizens live in Lebanon.
