Switzerland has called on its citizens to leave Lebanon

Swiss citizens were recommended to leave the territory of Lebanon by commercial flights. This became known on September 23 from the message of the Foreign Ministry of the country.

"Persons of Swiss nationality are advised to leave the country on their own if it seems possible and safe to do so. Use available commercial transportation. For more information contact the airlines," - stated in the text of the message.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry emphasized that the decision to leave Lebanon is made by the citizen independently. It is recommended to take precautions and follow the instructions of the Lebanese authorities.

"The Swiss Embassy in Beirut is open and continues to provide its usual services," the statement elaborated.

Winged phase: Hezbollah announces new phase of fight against Israel

How the nature of the confrontation between the Lebanese movement and the IDF will change

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched massive strikes on Shiite Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. One of them was struck in Beirut. The Israeli General Staff indicated that the country was conducting a pre-emptive operation to destroy the infrastructure of the Shiite organization. According to the latest data, because of the attack on Lebanon, 492 people were killed and 1,645 were injured

Before that, on September 17 and 18, two waves of explosions of pagers and other communication devices of Hezbollah members took place in Lebanon. It was reported that at least 37 people were killed then, about 3 thousand people were injured. The country's authorities and representatives of Hezbollah blamed Israel for the incident.

On August 4, the Turkish Foreign Ministry recommended its citizens to refrain from traveling to Lebanon unless absolutely necessary and to leave the country if possible. In addition, the Saudi embassy in Beirut also urged the kingdom's subjects to leave Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and the Shiite organization Hezbollah.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive barrage of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, as well as invading border areas in the south and taking hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.