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Saudi Arabia on Wednesday called on all its citizens to leave Lebanon “immediately” due to tensions on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
The Gulf kingdom’s embassy in Beirut said it was “closely following developments” in southern Lebanon, where at least 18 other people were killed in exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Palestinian militants on one side and Israel on the other.
The dead are usually combatants, although there is also a Reuters journalist and two civilians.
At least three other people were killed on the Israeli side.
The Palestinian militant organization Hamas launched a major attack on Israel on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning alive more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Israel launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing some 3,500 people, most of them civilians.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which like Hamas is subsidized through Iran, has since been implicated in a series of retaliatory incidents with Israel.
After a rocket attack on a Gaza hospital killed many more people on Tuesday, Hezbollah called for a “day of rage. “
Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters gathered in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday to protest the attack, which they blamed on Israel, despite its denials.
The Saudi embassy said citizens who remain in Lebanon deserve to “exercise caution and stay away from places where gatherings or protests are taking place. “
This week, Kuwait also warned that it opposes travel to Lebanon.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said citizens wishing to make a stopover in Kuwait “deserve to be patient and postpone their journey at this stage” and that those already in the country deserve to “return voluntarily if there is no urgent need for their presence. “