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France Warns against Lebanon Travel, Joining Western States

Smoke rises from Israeli artillery shelling in Dhayra village, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanon, 16 October 2023. (EPA)
Smoke rises from Israeli artillery shelling in Dhayra village, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanon, 16 October 2023. (EPA)
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France Warns against Lebanon Travel, Joining Western States

Smoke rises from Israeli artillery shelling in Dhayra village, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanon, 16 October 2023. (EPA)
Smoke rises from Israeli artillery shelling in Dhayra village, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanon, 16 October 2023. (EPA)

France on Tuesday joined several Western countries in warning its citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon as the security situation remains tense and as some airlines suspended flights.

Since Hamas attacked on October 7 triggering war between Israel and the Gaza-based militants, the Lebanese-Israel border has seen near daily tit-for-tat incidents involving Lebanon's Hezbollah or Palestinian groups including Hamas.

At least 18 have been killed on the Lebanese side, including a Reuters journalist and two other civilians, while on the Israeli side, at least three people have been killed.

"Given security tensions in the region and particularly on Lebanon's southern border, French travelers planning a trip to Lebanon are not advised to go there," the French foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

France on Monday warned Lebanese officials to avert war with Israel, and the United States has urged Hezbollah to stay out of the conflict.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has so far limited its cross-border attacks but analysts say the Iran-backed group with a powerful arsenal could open a front with Israel if it invades the Gaza Strip.

Swiss International Air Lines said Monday it was suspending flights between Switzerland and Beirut initially until October 28 due to unrest on the border.

Germany's Lufthansa has suspended flights until October 22, the airline's website says.

Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier, relocated five of its 24 planes to the Istanbul airport as a temporary "pre-emptive step" in light of regional developments, it said Monday.

During a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel knocked out Beirut airport, Lebanon's only international facility.

"Events in Lebanon are fast moving. The situation has potential to deteriorate quickly and with no warning," Britain said in its travel advice, last updated on Monday.

"The British Embassy has temporarily withdrawn family members of staff," the government website said, advising "against all travel to some parts of Lebanon" including border areas and "against all but essential travel to the rest of Lebanon".

The United States on October 9 issued a broad "regional security alert" warning citizens to "take caution".

Canada has warned its citizens to "avoid non-essential travel to Lebanon", citing "an unpredictable security situation" and the "armed conflict with Israel".

Spain has also advised against non-essential travel.

Germany on Sunday urged its nationals not to travel to Lebanon because of "an escalation of violence" following the Hamas attacks on Israel. The travel warning is at the highest level given by the German government.

Australia has advised its citizens: "'Reconsider your need to travel' to Lebanon due to the security environment".

"If you wish to leave... you should consider the first available option," it said on the Australian government's Smartraveller website.

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Arab World

Israel Tests Lebanon’s Internal Cohesion

A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
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Israel Tests Lebanon’s Internal Cohesion

A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A rescue worker carries a child at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israel has widened its campaign in Lebanon to include central Beirut, launching a series of pre-dawn airstrikes on Wednesday, followed hours later by a strike on a residential apartment in the Zoqaq al-Blat district.

The attacks mark a clear expansion of targets within the capital.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said strikes on the Basta and Zoqaq al-Blat neighborhoods killed 10 people and wounded 27 others. Four areas were hit, including Bashoura, Basta and Zoqaq al-Blat.

Several buildings that had been targeted in recent days were struck again, in what appears to be a deliberate escalation strategy aimed at repeatedly hitting the same sites until they are fully disabled.

The latest strikes signal the effective end of what had been known as the “Beirut exception,” with the capital directly drawn into the confrontation.

MP Mohammad Khawaja told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel does not distinguish between areas within Lebanon.

“This strategy aims to create internal tensions, particularly in mixed areas, thereby increasing social pressure,” he stated.

He added that targeting civilians or civilian areas “has occurred in Beirut before, and may well be repeated.”

Khawaja said the attacks “directly target Lebanon’s social fabric by deepening divisions and creating tensions among the Lebanese,” adding that the most effective response is “to uphold national principles and strengthen internal unity.”

 

A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Beirut's Bashoura neighbourhood early on March 18, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)

For his part, MP Ibrahim Mneimneh said Israel is seeking to exert all-out pressure on Hezbollah, including by leveraging Lebanon’s internal situation as a tool of social pressure.

“Targeting Beirut is not limited to pursuing specific individuals,” he said. “It is also part of an attempt to create internal fractures and push Lebanese against one another, increasing pressure on Hezbollah’s support base.”

Beirut, he added, is bearing a double burden as a capital hosting displaced people while also facing mounting security pressure and direct targeting.

Mneimneh warned that Beirut is no longer exempt from escalation and that this pattern is likely to continue in the coming period. He stressed the need to control any elements that could be used as a pretext for further strikes, in order to protect civilians and reduce exposure to risk.

The deputy added that the confrontation appears open-ended, with both Israel and Hezbollah holding to their positions, placing Lebanon and its people among the primary victims.

Retired Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassin said Israeli strikes on Beirut “are not governed by geographic considerations or red lines.”

He described a policy of “open pressure,” with Israel striking “wherever it chooses, without distinction.”

Arab World

Syria Unveils Plan to Eliminate Assad’s Chemical Weapons

Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)
Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)
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Syria Unveils Plan to Eliminate Assad’s Chemical Weapons

Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)
Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi (L), speaks during a Security Council meeting discussing Syria and the Middle East at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 March 2026. (EPA)

Syria on Wednesday launched a plan supported by Washington to rid the Middle Eastern country of legacy chemical weapons that were used against its people by forces under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

For decades, Assad ran a large-scale program for chemical weapons, the use of which killed and injured thousands during Syria's long-running civil war. Despite Damascus' signing onto the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 and declaring a 1,300-ton stockpile, prohibited use continued and the size of the program remains ‌unclear.

An international taskforce ‌backed by the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada and ‌France, ⁠among others, will ⁠track down all remaining elements of the program and destroy them under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, said in an interview.

As many as 100 sites in Syria need to be inspected to determine what toxic munitions remain and how they should be destroyed, OPCW experts have said. It will require a time-consuming and costly ⁠operation to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ‌in a region fraught with conflict and ‌political turmoil.

The expanding US-Israeli war on Iran and broader regional security concerns will make the ‌timing of the mission uncertain, but all the more necessary to prevent ‌future use, officials said.

GOVERNMENT VOWS FULL ACCESS

Assad was overthrown in December 2024, and the new government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to turn a page and eradicate banned chemical weapons and give inspectors full access.

The move shows that Syria has ‌shifted from a country that was once concealing chemical weapons use to one that is "leading the resolve" to do ⁠away with them, ⁠Olabi said.

Several international investigations concluded that the nerve agent sarin, as well as chlorine and sulfur mustard gas, was used by the Assad regime, but never revealed the full extent of the clandestine program.

"We don't know what's remaining. It was a secret program," Olabi said. "The job is on Syria to basically look for these things and then declare them."

A diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said the 100 sites could be anything from military bases to laboratories or offices.

"It will probably take many months if not years to get it done, and of course the current situation in the Middle East doesn’t help the process to move forward to the actual destruction of any remnants of Assad‘s chemical weapons program," the source said.

Arab World

Pro-Iran Iraqi Armed Group Says Will Stop US Embassy Attacks, Under Conditions

A fire burns outside the grounds of the US Embassy headquarters in Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone" on March 17, 2026 following a drone and rocket attack according to security officials. (AFP)
A fire burns outside the grounds of the US Embassy headquarters in Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone" on March 17, 2026 following a drone and rocket attack according to security officials. (AFP)
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Pro-Iran Iraqi Armed Group Says Will Stop US Embassy Attacks, Under Conditions

A fire burns outside the grounds of the US Embassy headquarters in Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone" on March 17, 2026 following a drone and rocket attack according to security officials. (AFP)
A fire burns outside the grounds of the US Embassy headquarters in Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone" on March 17, 2026 following a drone and rocket attack according to security officials. (AFP)

An influential pro-Iranian armed group in Iraq pledged early Thursday to stop attacking the US embassy for five days, subject to several conditions including that Israel stop strikes on parts of Beirut.

AFP reported no drone or rocket attacks so far on the US embassy in Iraq's capital Baghdad between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The country has been unwillingly drawn into the regional conflict triggered by the US-Israel attack on its neighbor Iran on February 28.

Strikes have targeted Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed near daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region.

Kataib Hezbollah said the group's secretary-general had "issued orders to suspend operations targeting the US Embassy in Baghdad for a period of five days".

In a statement the Iran-backed group -- designated by Washington as a "terrorist organization" -- stipulated several conditions, including Israel "ceasing its bombardment" of southern Beirut suburbs, and "a commitment to refrain from bombing residential areas in Baghdad and other provinces".

Whenever "the enemy violates" the truce "the response will be immediate", it said, warning of an "escalation of strikes" after the five-day period.

The US embassy has been targeted by drone and rocket attacks several times in recent days, with air defenses intercepting most of the projectiles.

A US diplomatic and logistics center at Baghdad International Airport, which houses military personnel, has also been regularly targeted.

AFP journalists reported Wednesday morning at least four explosions in the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region.

It was unclear what the target was and the projectiles were intercepted over the city, home to a major US consulate complex, while its airport houses US-led coalition troops.

And a strike near Iraq's western border with Syria on Wednesday killed three fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the alliance said.

The fighters from the alliance -- now part of Iraq's regular armed forces -- were hit in a US or Israeli strike that targeted their main command center in Anbar province.

Pro-Iran factions also have brigades that operate within the alliance, but have a reputation for acting on their own.

- Gas stoppage -

The war has also battered Iraq's already fragile economy.

The country's gas imports from Iran were halted on Wednesday, authorities said, the cutoff coming as Baghdad barely had time to celebrate a deal to export a fraction of its oil production through Türkiye after disruptions to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

The electricity ministry's spokesperson Ahmed Moussa told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that "due to regional developments, Iranian gas supplies to Iraq completely halted an hour ago," cutting about 3,100 megawatts of power, which will "certainly affect the grid".

He sought, however, to calm fears of more frequent blackouts, saying the ministry will instead use "alternative fuels and domestic gas reserves".

News of the gas stoppage came after Tehran denounced a US-Israeli strike on Iranian facilities exploiting the vast South Pars/North Dome gas field.

Despite its abundant oil and gas reserves, Iraq's power plants are highly dependent on gas imported from Iran, which supplies about a third of the country's needs.

Electricity shortages are already a frequent complaint in Iraq, which suffers from endemic corruption and dilapidated public infrastructure.

Most households rely on private generators to compensate for daily power cuts.

Early Wednesday, Iraq said it resumed oil exports from its fields in the northern province of Kirkuk in agreement with the autonomous Kurdistan Region, through which the pipeline to Türkiye’s port of Ceyhan runs.

But it will export 250,000 barrels per day, only a fraction of the 3.5 million before the war.

However, Iraq, whose crude sales make up 90 percent of its foreign revenue, had few options after Iran effectively shuttered the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iraq previously shipped most of its oil from the southern Basra fields.