US embassy tells citizens to leave Lebanon on 'any ticket available'

Americans in Lebanon were urged by the US Embassy in Beirut to leave on "any ticket available," as concerns grow about larger conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available," the embassy statement said, despite several international airlines suspending flights to Israel this week, including Germany's Lufthansa and Air France.

"We encourage those who wish to depart Lebanon to book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately or does not follow their first-choice route," the embassy said.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy reminded people of existing UK guidelines advising British nationals in Lebanon to leave.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which is based in Lebanon and plays an important part in that country's politics, has regularly exchanged fire with Israel across the shared border and did so even before the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. But recently these attacks have increased.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project monitoring group reports that between October 8 and July 5 this year, Israel, Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon exchanged at least 7,491 attacks across the border. The data indicates that Israel had carried out around five times as many attacks as Hezbollah.

Iran said Saturday it expects Hezbollah will begin hitting deeper inside Israel.

The likelihood of a wider conflict has grown after Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukur were killed this week.

Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's death but claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Shukur.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been labeled terrorist organizations by the US, Israel and Germany.