Russian Embassy in Beirut warns Russians against visiting Lebanon

The Russian Embassy in Beirut does not recommend Russians to visit Lebanon. This was announced on September 24 by Ambassador Alexander Rudakov on air of the Rossiya-24 TV channel .

"We remind you that now is not the time at all for tourist trips, and those who feel unsafe being here in Lebanon, we recommend using commercial flights while the airport in Beirut is working almost normally," the diplomat said.

"We strongly recommend our compatriots to follow the instructions of the local authorities to ensure their own security measures. At the same time, we remind that the airport is still functioning in Lebanon. Everyone has the opportunity to leave the country," he noted.

The day before, the Israel Defense Forces carried out massive strikes on the facilities of the Shiite movement "Hezbollah" 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. Earlier it was reported that as a result of Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 492 people.

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 the Shiite movement blamed Israel for the incident.

The situation in the Middle East escalated in the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, invaded the border areas in the south of the country and seized hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.