American Plans to Evacuate 100,000 Citizens from Lebanon Concurrent with Hochstein's Visit

In conjunction with the upcoming visit of U.S. envoy to the Middle East Amos Hochstein, aimed at reducing tensions along the southern border, a U.S. government official revealed "plans to evacuate American citizens from Lebanon that may involve around 100,000 people," as reported by "An-Nahar." The official stated that "the evacuation plans could be the largest compared to the evacuations of Americans from Vietnam in 1975 and from Kabul in 2021." These plans come after weeks of severe security escalation in Lebanon following Israel's assassination of Hezbollah military leader Fouad Shukr, which was followed by numerous calls from various Arab and foreign embassies for their citizens to leave Lebanon "immediately," in addition to major airlines canceling flights to Beirut. The United Kingdom has taken similar measures to the U.S., evacuating families of British diplomatic staff via commercial flights rather than military aircraft earlier last week. Beirut International Airport has seen congestion due to airlines suspending several flights and rescheduling others, according to "An-Nahar."