Due to rising tensions in the region between Israel and Hezbollah, the United States organized flights over the past week to evacuate around 250 U.S. citizens and their family from Lebanon.
White House and State Department representatives met with two major Muslim American officials in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to discuss the country’s plan to help Americans leave Lebanon as a result of the Middle East’s growing conflict. Additionally, the two Muslim British officials had a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security about the situation.
Abed Ayoub, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s executive chairman, told The Associated Press that he and Michigan state Rep. Alabas Farhat, a Democrat, used the discussions to stress” a lot of important factors about the problems our community people are facing on the ground and a lot of the operational problems that they’re encountering with it when it comes to this removal”.
Sabrina Singh claimed a full evacuation was not being considered at the moment, despite some officials ‘ requests for the United States to begin a full evacuation from Lebanon. Singh told reporters,” The U. S. military is, of course, on the ready and has a whole wide range of plans. Absolutely, we can evacuate American citizens from Lebanon.
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The Associated Press reports that Americans are leaving Lebanon come as Israel has increased its attacks on Hezbollah, a terrorist organization supported by Iran. Concerns about evacuation come after Iran fired almost 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. In the upcoming days, Israel is expected to act in some kind of retaliation against Iran, raising the possibility of a Middle Eastern regional war.
Since the devastating Hamas attack in October, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in firefights across Lebanon, according to The Associated Press.
In response to the growing Middle East tension, countries like the United Kingdom, Greece, Colombia, and Japan have used military aircraft or scheduled flights to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon, according to The Associated Press. The U.S. State Department has urged Americans to leave Lebanon and warned Americans against visiting Lebanon, according to the outlet.
Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, confirmed that the U. S. would work to organize flights for Americans out of Lebanon. Additionally, Miller pointed out that Middle East Airlines had roughly 1,400 seats reserved for Americans on its flights over the past week.
Miller also stated that the United States would provide temporary loans to Americans who want to relocate to safer areas in Lebanon and that the United States would offer emergency loans to Americans who want to leave Lebanon on U.S. contracted flights.
