While the State Department ranks the safety of foreign nations for U.S. tourists from one (be as careful as you would at home) to four (reserved for active war zones and authoritarian governments), it also occasionally issues “depart now” advisories amid rapidly escalating situations.
With Israel continuing to target Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon amid an escalation of the war in Gaza, the State Department just issued such an advisory for American citizens currently in the country after already changing Lebanon’s rating to “avoid all travel” earlier in the year.
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“U.S. citizens in Lebanon are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the State Department in the latest update while also adding that “commercial carriers continue to fly out of Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport with many flights scheduled each day.” The State Department update also included, “U.S. Embassy may not be able to assist U.S. citizens who choose to remain.”
The latest State Department advisory for U.S. citizens in Lebanon
The latest estimates show that Israeli air strikes in the area have killed over 2,300 people in the country while the State Department currently has more than 86,000 American citizens recorded as living in Lebanon — throughout the week of Oct. 10, the U.S. government has been running charter flights to get those who were trying to leave out of Lebanon and into Turkey.
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“U.S. citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further,” the advisory note reads. “These alternative plans should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation.” While these notes are standard for situations in which citizens either choose not to or miss their chance to leave, such phrasing posted on the social media platform X recently drew sharp criticism online.
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As tensions escalate, airlines cancel restarted flights to Tel Aviv
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that left more than 2,000 Israelis dead and prompted the country’s military to enter into and launch an offensive on Gaza, airlines have gone back and forth on canceling and restarting flights as risk of a wider war in the region either escalates or dies down.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL) restarted some flights in the spring of 2024 but suspended them again after the situation between Israel and Lebanon started escalating in August.
The latest update from Delta says flights to Israel will now remain suspended until March while international airlines that fly into Lebanon, such as Cyprus Airways, Lufthansa (DLAKF) and Qatar Airways have all suspended flights into the country.
While the date initially announced was until the end of September, the continued airstrikes means that flights are not looking likely to restart until the start of 2025.
“Due to the ongoing situation in Lebanon, Qatar Airways has temporarily suspended flights to and from Beirut Rafic-Hariri International Airport,” Qatar Airways said in a statement.
Governments of vario nations have been running chartered flights to get their citizens out of Lebanon and into nearby countries such as Turkey but the limited availability of commercial flights means that the situation remains extremely dangerous both for foreign citizens and locals who are trying to leave.
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