Fearing a possible major war with Israel, embassies have immediately urged their nationals to leave Lebanon as Iran weighs its response to a series of Israeli attacks over the past week.
Despite diplomatic attempts to de-escalate tensions between the warring parties, more and more governments have called on their citizens to leave Beirut as soon as possible.
The United States, Britain, Australia, France, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey and Jordan have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon for fear of a major fire.
At the same time, however, many major airlines have cancelled or postponed their flights to Beirut due to the unstable situation and the threat of an Iranian attack.
Iran has vowed retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. Haniyeh was previously killed in an Israeli attack on southern Beirut that also killed Hezbollah commander and Iranian ally Fuad Shukr.
There is speculation that Iran will launch an attack on Israel, either directly or through its proxies, possibly Hezbollah in Lebanon. Governments fear this could trigger a serious Israeli response.
Air France announced on Wednesday that it would extend the suspension of its flights to Beirut, while Italian airline ITA Airways extended the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until August 10.
Late Tuesday, the UK aviation authority reportedly issued a NOTAM (Notice to Aviation) urging pilots not to fly over Lebanese airspace from August 7 to November 4 due to a risk from military activity in the region.
Evacuation plans of foreign governments
In October, following the Hamas attack on southern Israel and the Gaza war, the US government facilitated the evacuation of American citizens from Israel by air or sea.
The US Embassy in Israel’s website said that “exit assistance” for US citizens began on October 13. It said the chartered transport would not be returned to the US, but to “nearby safe locations”.
Observers doubt that the US could act as effectively in the event of a major fire in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom continue to classify Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in a lower category than Lebanon, to which they advise against any travel.
Embassies are not the only places that have reassessed Lebanon’s security in recent days.
The families of UN staff in Lebanon have been ordered to leave the country. The UN maintains major regional offices in Beirut for dozens of its aid agencies, including UNIFIL, ESCWA, UNRWA and WFP.
United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq said on Wednesday that the UN would not withdraw personnel from Lebanon, but family members had been told they must leave the country.
“We have not relocated our national and international staff. There is no decision to suspend UN operations in Lebanon. As part of our regular administrative procedures, the presence of family members of staff in the country is temporarily reduced and this is happening now,” Farhan said during a press conference.
Rising prices for airline tickets
Since the flood of cancellations and warnings from foreign governments, there have been calls for embassies to improve their cooperation with airlines to curb rising ticket prices in the face of demand.
Lebanese journalist Kim Ghattas wrote on X that other countries should “coordinate” their efforts with airlines that are canceling flights and raising prices.
“Some want to leave but cannot find tickets. Some want to return to their families but are stranded abroad,” said Ghattas, who is responsible for the Atlantic and that Financial Timessaid this week.
The US Embassy reportedly sent emails to registered citizens asking them to take out a “relocation loan” to cover the cost of a plane ticket, otherwise citizens would have to “compensate the US government” to get to a safe location. This request was also made during the evacuations from Israel.
A search for a ticket from Beirut to London Heathrow on Middle East Airlines shows that flights are sold out until August 12, with the exception of an economy class ticket for £412.50. Before the instability, passengers could have expected to pay about half that price.
Next week, only one Business Class ticket will be available for £782.30 for the five-hour flight.
For approximately 21,000 Canadian citizens in Lebanon, the price of a single exit ticket has risen to around 4,087 Canadian dollars, up from around 1,200 Canadian dollars.
During the war in 2006, Canada’s evacuation effort cost nearly $100 million Canadian, the National Post reported.
The Canadian Army is reportedly preparing plans in case an evacuation is necessary.
