Britain has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff working in Israel due to the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and the risk of a wider regional conflict.
British citizens living in Israel are not being told to leave © Mena Today
Britain has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff working in Israel due to the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and the risk of a wider regional conflict.
The decision comes in the wake of Israel sending troops into southern Lebanon, the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and an Iranian missile attack on Israel.
"As a precautionary measure following escalation in the region, family members of British Embassy staff have been temporarily withdrawn," the Foreign Office travel advice web page for Israel read. "Our staff members remain."
Hezbollah rockets hit Israel's third-largest city Haifa early on Monday as the country looked poised to expand its ground incursions into Lebanon.
Britain advises citizens against all travel to the area close to the border with Gaza and "all but essential travel" to other parts of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to the yearlong conflict between Israel and Hamas.
But British citizens living in Israel are not being told to leave. Instead, they are being advised that consular assistance is "severely limited".
"We recognise this is a fast-moving situation that poses significant risks," the advice reads. "We strongly encourage you to check you and your dependents have the required documentation to travel at short notice."
Reporting by Andrew MacAskill
Iran and the United States will hold a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran's atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump's threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
In a defiant speech on Friday evening, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, insisted that the group “will not allow anyone to disarm it,” rejecting growing internal calls for the Lebanese state to reclaim exclusive control over the country’s weapons.
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