Protesters try to enter the US embassy in Beirut. (AP/Bilal Hussein)
US Embassy orders employees, families of staff to leave Lebanon; ambassador and critical embassy not yet evacuated.
By World Israel News Staff
The American embassy in Beirut has ordered the mandatory evacuation of the families of diplomats stationed in Lebanon, as well as instructed non-essential embassy workers to leave the country.
Citing the “volatile and unpredictable security situation” in Lebanon’s capital, the State Department urged all of its employees and their loved ones – except for critical embassy workers and diplomats – to flee from Lebanon,
In a statement released Saturday, the State Department reiterated its call for U.S. citizens to “depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available.”
The order was made less than a day after the Israeli Air Force’s Friday night strike on Hezbollah military headquarters in the Dahiyeh quarter of south Beirut.
That strike, which involved the use of numerous bunker-busting bombs, killed Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah, along with other members of the terror group’s senior leadership.
The U.S.’s push to ensure that Americans leave the country indicates that Washington believes further deterioration in Lebanon’s security is inevitable.
While Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, has so far shied away from becoming directly involved in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, Nasrallah’s slaying may trigger a response from Tehran.
Iran invested billions of dollars in funding, training, and arming Hezbollah, which served as their largest and most intimidating proxy group on Israel’s borders.
As Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah intensified, the terror group reportedly turned to its patron for help, asking Iran to strike Israel.
Tehran reportedly refused that request, claiming that the timing for such an attack “was not right.”
A senior Iranian commander, Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilofouroshan, was also killed in Friday night’s bombing.
Nilofouroshan is one of the most senior Iranian military officials assassinated by Israel since the outbreak of the war last year.
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