Urgent calls grew for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon, which would be on the front line of a regional war, as Iran and its allies readied their response to high-profile killings blamed on Israel.
While diplomats worked to avert a feared conflagration, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Sunday a regional military escalation must be avoided “at all costs”, the French presidency said after they held a telephone call.
With major military action from Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and others widely expected, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “If they dare to attack us, they will pay a heavy price.”
The nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has already led to a violent fallout which has become routine around the region.
