Britain withdraws families of Beirut embassy staff amid rising tensions

Britain on Sunday said it had withdrawn the families of embassy staff in Beirut due to the volatile security situation in Lebanon and reiterated a call for citizens in the country to leave given the risk of escalation in the Middle East.

"We are deeply concerned with the highly volatile security situation in Lebanon," a foreign office spokesperson said, saying additional consular officials, border force and military personnel had been deployed to the region.

"We have also temporarily withdrawn the families of officials working at the British Embassy Beirut... All British nationals should leave Lebanon now, while commercial routes are still available."

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On Saturday, the UK government urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately, amid fears of mounting tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and a broader regional conflict.

Hezbollah's leader said the group will definitely respond to Israel's killing of its top commander, after Israel's military announced late on Tuesday that it had killed Fuad Shukr, whom it named as Hezbollah's most senior commander and whom it blamed for an attack at the weekend that left a dozen youngsters dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since Oct 7 after Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

The violence since October has killed at least 518 people in Lebanon, including at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

• France calls on citizens in Lebanon to leave 'as soon as possible'