US urges citizens to leave Lebanon after Israel forces raid Al Jazeera office in West Bank

The US State Department on Saturday urged Americans in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial options remain available, as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah flares.

"Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the US Embassy urges US citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available," the State Department said in an updated advisory.

"At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity. If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable," it added.

In late July, the United States raised its travel advisory for Lebanon to its highest "do not travel" classification, after a strike on southern Beirut killed a top Hezbollah commander.

Israel on Friday struck southern Beirut again, saying this time it had killed the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force and several other commanders.

The Lebanese health ministry said 37 people were killed in the strike, which followed sabotage attacks earlier in the week on pagers and two-way radios used by Hezbollah, which killed dozens and wounded thousands.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has blamed Israel, which has not commented.

Hezbollah fighters have traded cross-border fire with Israel for nearly a year in stated support of Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

But the exchanges have escalated in recent weeks, as Israel turns its attention to its northern border after significantly weakening Hamas.

The US State Department reiterated Saturday that Americans should "immediately" leave southern Lebanon, as well as areas near the Syrian border and refugee settlements.

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said that Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order.

Israel's government last week announced it was revoking the press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists in the country, four months after banning the channel from operating inside Israel.

"There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days," an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari, the network reported, citing the conversation which was broadcast live.

"I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment," the soldier said, according to the footage, which showed heavily armed and masked troops entering the office.

The broadcaster said the soldiers did not provide a reason for the closure order.

Israel's army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has had a long-running feud with Al Jazeera that has worsened since the Gaza war began following the October 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Israeli military has repeatedly accused journalists from the Qatari network of being "terrorist agents" in Gaza affiliated with Hamas or its ally, Islamic Jihad.

Al Jazeera denies Israel's accusations and claims that Israel systematically targets its employees in the Gaza Strip.

The media office of the Hamas-run government in Gaza condemned Sunday's raid, saying in a statement it was a "resounding scandal and a blatant violation of press freedom".

- 'No surprise' -

The Israeli parliament passed a law in early April allowing the banning of foreign media broadcasts deemed harmful to state security.

Based on this law, the Israeli government approved on May 5 the decision to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting from Israel and close its offices for a renewable 45-day period, which was extended for a fourth time by a Tel Aviv court last week.

The shutdown had not affected broadcasts from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, from which Al Jazeera was still covering Israel's war with Palestinian militants.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim said the network's West Bank office closure "comes as no surprise" after the earlier ban on reporting from inside Israel.

"We've heard Israeli officials threatening to close down the bureau," she said on the network.

"But we (had) not been expecting it to happen today."

Bureau chief Omari said that "targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth".

In May, the network condemned as "criminal" the ban on it operating over its coverage of the Gaza war.

"We condemn and denounce this criminal act by Israel that violates the human right to access information," the channel said in a statement.