(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The United States and Australia renewed travel warnings for “all travel to Lebanon” this month, citing the “frequency of terrorist bombing attacks” and spillover violence from neighboring Syria.
“The Department of State urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon because of ongoing safety and security concerns. U.S. citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks,” the department said in a travel advisory on its website.
The U.S. government also cited “wrong place, wrong time” harm to U.S. citizens.
The Australian government called the situation “unpredictable” and called on their citizens to halt all travel to the country.
“We continue to advise Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Lebanon overall because of the unpredictable security and political situation that could deteriorate without warning,” the Australian ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of State cited new warnings in the renewed travel notice, calling all airplanes flying over Syria “at risk.”
“As we have seen in the recent past, commercial aircraft are at risk when flying over regions in conflict. We strongly recommend that U.S. citizens considering air travel overseas evaluate the route that their proposed commercial flight may take and avoid any that pass through Syrian airspace,” reads the warning.
“U.S. government personnel in Lebanon have been prohibited from taking flights that over-fly Syrian airspace.”
Some Syrian opposition groups have anti-aircraft capabilities, according to a previous warning issued by the U.S. government. American airlines have been forbidden from flying over Syria since August.