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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

Red Cross Calls Attacks on Medical Workers in Lebanon 'Gravely Concerning'

Lebanese Red Cross volunteers inspect the damage to their rescue vehicles at the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted their headquarters in the southern city of Tyre on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers inspect the damage to their rescue vehicles at the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted their headquarters in the southern city of Tyre on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
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Red Cross Calls Attacks on Medical Workers in Lebanon 'Gravely Concerning'

Lebanese Red Cross volunteers inspect the damage to their rescue vehicles at the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted their headquarters in the southern city of Tyre on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers inspect the damage to their rescue vehicles at the site of an Israeli drone strike that targeted their headquarters in the southern city of Tyre on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was deeply concerned by attacks on medical workers in Lebanon following a strike on a Lebanese Red Cross centre in the south of the country on Monday, as well the killing on Sunday of a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer, Reuters reported.

"The loss of those who dedicate their lives to saving others is gravely concerning, given the impact on the civilians who depend on their help," said Agnes Dhur, head of delegation of the ICRC in Lebanon.

Arab World

Israel Says South Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil Encircled, Full Control Within Days

Destroyed buildings in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in northern Israel, April 13, 2026. REUTERS/Florion Goga
Destroyed buildings in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in northern Israel, April 13, 2026. REUTERS/Florion Goga
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Israel Says South Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil Encircled, Full Control Within Days

Destroyed buildings in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in northern Israel, April 13, 2026. REUTERS/Florion Goga
Destroyed buildings in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in northern Israel, April 13, 2026. REUTERS/Florion Goga

The Israeli military said on Monday its troops had completely surrounded Bint Jbeil, a key town in southern Lebanon after killing more than 100 Hezbollah fighters there over the past week.

The announcement marks a significant advance in Israel's ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon.

"The forces of the 98th Division have completed the encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil and have begun an assault on it," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee said on X.

Over the past week, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around the town in "face-to-face" clashes and with air strikes, he said.

According to AFP, the Iran-backed Hezbollah said it has been engaged for days in clashes with Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil.

Full operational control of Bint Jbeil will be achieved within days, with Hezbollah fighters limited in their ⁠ability to attack ⁠northern Israel from the area, an Israeli military official said, according to Reuters.

"Only a small number of terrorists remains in the area of Bint Jbeil," the official said, adding that the military "eliminated terrorists ⁠as ⁠they were exiting the hospital in Bint Jbeil, as well as located numerous launchers and weapons."

Just five kilometers (three miles) from the Israeli border, Bint Jbeil has long been both a symbolic and strategic flashpoint in confrontations between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

It was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the 2006 war, when Hezbollah's resistance there became central to the group's narrative of defiance.

It was from the stadium in Bint Jbeil in 2000 that the group's former chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered the "Liberation" speech following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

On Thursday, Hezbollah said it was engaged in "point-blank" clashes with Israeli forces in the town.

Since then, the group has repeatedly reported targeting Israeli forces and vehicles there, most recently on Sunday, when the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "intense clashes" in the town.

On Monday, the NNA reported Israeli artillery shelling at the town's entrance.

The escalation in Bint Jbeil comes as diplomatic efforts to contain the cross-border fighting have risen over the past few days.

Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to hold talks on Tuesday in Washington to end the war.

During a visit to troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants.

But he added: "There is still more to do, and we are doing it."

Israeli officials have repeatedly said that Israel wants to establish a "security zone" in south Lebanon to help prevent Hezbollah attacks.

Arab World

Israeli Fire Kills Three in Gaza Following New Ceasefire Talks

A Palestinian man kisses a shrouded body during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to a medic, were killed the night before in an Israeli strike at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
A Palestinian man kisses a shrouded body during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to a medic, were killed the night before in an Israeli strike at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
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Israeli Fire Kills Three in Gaza Following New Ceasefire Talks

A Palestinian man kisses a shrouded body during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to a medic, were killed the night before in an Israeli strike at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
A Palestinian man kisses a shrouded body during the funeral of Palestinians who, according to a medic, were killed the night before in an Israeli strike at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)

An Israeli airstrike killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials said, as mediators met leaders from Hamas in an effort to shore up a US-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said the strike had hit a group of men outside a school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the bodies of those killed lay on the ground in white shrouds outside the morgue as relatives and friends arrived to bid them farewell. Some kissed the victims' foreheads before holding special prayers, Reuters reported.

“This isn’t a truce; it’s a trap for our ⁠young men. Every day ⁠there are martyrs, every single day. How long can this continue?” said Umm Hussam Abu El-Rous, a female relative of one of the victims.

“Isn't it unjust that a three-year-old child is afraid of seeing his (dead) father? He says, 'My father went to bring me something from the shop,'" she added. The ceasefire that began last October halted two years of full-blown war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone demarcated by yellow-painted blocks that comprises ⁠well over half of Gaza, with Hamas in power in a narrow coastal strip and Israeli airstrikes continuing.

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since the deal took effect, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations.

Palestinians say Israeli forces have been moving some of the yellow concrete markers westward. Israel denies this.

The violence comes as leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions have been meeting since Saturday in Cairo with mediators from Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar to discuss implementing the second phase of the Gaza deal.

Under a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, Hamas would be required to lay ⁠down its arms ⁠in stages over eight months after a US-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats takes control in Gaza.

However, Hamas' disarmament has been a major obstacle to progress on Trump's ceasefire deal and plan for Gaza, which have also been put under strain by the war in Iran.

Two officials close to the latest talks said Hamas told mediators that discussions on disarmament could only move forward after Israel fully implements the first phase of Trump's October deal, which includes a complete ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli military officials have said they are preparing for a swift return to full-scale war if Hamas does not lay down its weapons.