Lebanon Seeks to Reassure Gulf, Germany After Journey Warnings

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s caretaker premier Najib Mikati stated on Saturday there was no trigger for “concern or panic” about his nation’s safety state of affairs, after Germany and Gulf international locations issued new journey warnings following outbreaks of violence.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany and Britain up to date their journey warnings amid clashes between rival armed teams within the Palestinian camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Lebanon’s south.

In a press release, Mikati stated he had spoken together with his safety chiefs and assessed that the state of affairs “doesn’t name for concern or panic”. He stated there had been “vital progress” in resolving the violence in Ain el-Hilweh, the place a minimum of 13 folks have been killed in combating.

The assertion stated overseas minister Abdullah Bou Habib had been tasked with reassuring Arab international locations that their residents have been protected in Lebanon.

The Saudi embassy on Friday urged its residents to depart Lebanon rapidly and keep away from areas the place there have been armed clashes.

The Saudi assertion on X, previously often known as Twitter, burdened “the significance of adhering to the Saudi journey ban to Lebanon”.

Kuwait on Saturday urged its nationals in Lebanon to remain vigilant and keep away from “areas of safety disturbances,” however stopped in need of asking them to depart.

Final week, Germany warned residents to not journey to Palestinian camps in Lebanon, amongst different areas. Britain suggested in opposition to “all however important journey” to components of Lebanon’s south, together with close to Ain el-Hilweh.

Round 1 / 4 of the camp’s 80,000 residents have been displaced by combating there on July 29 between mainstream faction Fatah and hardline Islamists

Ain el-Hilweh is the most important of 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon, which host as much as 250,000 Palestinian refugees, in accordance with the United Nations’ company for refugees from Palestine (UNRWA).

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Vera Eckert in Germany; enhancing by Giles Elgood)

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