Mansour Plays Down Evacuations as 'Internal Procedures'
Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour expressed hope on Saturday that citizens of Gulf countries and Americans would not escape Lebanon.
In remarks to the state-run National News Agency, Mansour “hoped foreigners would remain in Lebanon as long as the situation is calm for the time being.”
“Westerners and Arabs are receiving full attention from the Lebanese and the Lebanese state,” he said.
Mansour described the evacuation of Gulf citizens and the draw down of non-emergency personnel and family members from the U.S. Embassy as “internal measures.”
In a new travel warning for Lebanon, the State Department said Friday it had instructed nonessential staffers to leave Beirut and urged private American citizens to depart the country "due to threats to U.S. mission facilities and personnel. "
Last month, Britain updated its travel warning for Lebanon, urging citizens to avoid all but essential travel because of a "heightened risk of anti-Western sentiment" linked to potential strikes against Syria.
The British Foreign Office said Friday it had not ordered the withdrawal of non-essential staff from the embassy in Beirut.
But it said that all dependents of British diplomatic staff had left after the travel warning was updated on August 30.
Several Gulf countries have also evacuated their citizens from Lebanon.
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