State Department urges Americans to 'depart now' from Lebanon in new advisory

The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory on Tuesday urging U.S. citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible amid escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah – and while flights are still available.

"U.S. citizens in Lebanon are strongly encouraged to depart now," the agency said in the advisory. "The U.S. Embassy may not be able to assist U.S. citizens who choose to remain."

Some commercial carriers have increased availability for flights out of Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport and the U.S. government has been adding thousands of seats through chartered flights since Sept. 28, according to the advisory, to aid in the evacuation of the roughly 86,000 Americans residing in Lebanon. "Much of this capacity has gone unused," the agency said. "U.S. government organized flights will not continue indefinitely."

Last week, over 1,000 Americans and their families fled Lebanon for Turkey on U.S. chartered flights.

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The State Department has issued Lebanon a Level 4 travel advisory "due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in Beirut." Since last October, the Israel-Hamas war between Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hamas, and Israel has intensified to become one the deadliest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict has caused around 41,788 people in Gaza and 2,000 in Lebanon to be killed and thousands of others injured.

The agency added that it cannot guarantee anyone's safety when they are traveling within Lebanon, whether to airports or borders, and they should "only attempt to depart Lebanon or travel within Lebanon if you believe it is safe for you to do so." U.S. citizens in Lebanon can fill out a crisis intake form for further information on getting evacuation assistance.

Americans who choose to stay in Lebanon should come up with contingency plans and not rely on the U.S. government in case of further escalation.

Delta Air Lines on Tuesday said it will cease operations to Tel Aviv due to the conflict, joining a list of others including Qatar Airways. Many cruise lines such as Virgin Voyages and Carnival Corp. also altered their itineraries to avoid the Red Sea earlier this year while others evacuated the region .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: State Department urges Americans to 'depart now' from Lebanon in new advisory