Hezbollah and Iran have vowed retaliation against Israel, raising concerns across the international community
THE Lebanon received emergency medical supplies on Monday to equip its hospitals for possible war casualties, and Beirut’s airport is packed with people trying to leave the country amid fears a full-scale conflict is imminent.
Tension in the region has escalated since last week following the assassination in Tehran of its leader Hamas and the Israeli strike in the suburbs of Beirut that killed a military commander of the Lebanese organization Hezbollah.
Hezbollah and Iran have vowed retaliation against him Israel for these killings, raising concerns that the fighting raging on multiple fronts alongside the war in Gaza could escalate into an all-out regional conflict.
Hospitals in southern Lebanon, where most of the firefights between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have taken place, are strained by the years-long economic crisis and have struggled to care for the wounded for the past 10 months.
Today, the World Health Organization delivered 32 tons of medical supplies to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, including at least 1,000 sets of trauma kits for victims of any war.
“The goal is to get these supplies and medicines to various hospitals and the medical sector in Lebanon, especially in areas that are more exposed (to hostilities) so that we are ready to face any emergency,” Health Minister Firas said. Abiad to reporters on the runway where help arrived.
In the airport’s departure hall, families of Lebanese origin who have gone home for the summer line up to check in and depart, expressing their regret at leaving earlier than expected.
Countries such as France, Britain, Italy, Turkey and others are urging their citizens to leave the country while commercial flights are still available.
“It’s very sad, my God, the situation is really sad. We come out of one crisis, we enter another,” said Sherin Malach, a Lebanese and resident of Italy who went to Lebanon to visit her mother and is now returning earlier to Italy.
The US has called on its citizens who want to leave Lebanon to “book any ticket they find available” while the United Nations has asked the families of its workers to leave Lebanon and the Swedish embassy has temporarily moved its staff to Cyprus .
Others in Lebanon, however, appeared more relaxed. Along the sandy shore in the Lebanese city of Tyre, about 20 km from the border with Israel, children play in the water as plumes of black smoke rise behind the hills from Israeli shelling further south.
“As for the current situation, as you can see, the whole world is on the beach, this land is our land and we will not leave it,” Ghalib Badawi, a resident of Tyre.
Source :Skai
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