In the face of looming hostilities, the Saudi Arabian embassy in Lebanon has called on its citizens to vacate the country as soon as possible and to avoid approaching areas where there have been armed clashes.
In a statement posted yesterday on X, formerly known as Twitter, the embassy warned Saudi citizens not to visit areas where armed clashes were taking place, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported.
The embassy stressed ‘the importance of adhering to the Saudi travel ban to Lebanon’, the statement added.
Kuwait also issued an advisory early on Saturday calling on Kuwaitis in Lebanon to stay vigilant and avoid ‘areas of security disturbances’ but stopped short of asking them to leave the country, according to a statement by the Kuwaiti foreign ministry posted on X.
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On the 1st of August, the United Kingdom also updated its travel advice for Lebanon, advising against ‘all but essential travel’ to parts of Lebanon’s south near the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that since the 29th of July, no fewer than 13 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in clashes between the mainstream faction Fatah and a hardline group in the camp, the largest of 12 Palestinian camps established in Lebanon in 1948 after Israel was created.
Fatah has accused the armed groups Jund al-Sham and al-Shabab al-Muslim of gunning down a Fatah military general, Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi, in the camp.
According to Maher Shabaita, the head of Fatah in the Sidon region, Palestinian factions in the camp have formed an investigative committee to find out who was responsible for al-Armoushi’s killing and will hand them over to the Lebanese judiciary for trial.
A ceasefire between the Palestinian groups in the camp was announced on July 31 under the mediation of Lebanese parties.