By Maya Gebeily and Kanishka Singh
BEIRUT/ WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department ordered the departure of family members and non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Lebanon citing the volatile security situation in the region, a State Department notice emailed to U.S. citizens in Lebanon showed on Sunday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. had “obliterated” Tehran’s most sensitive nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
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The U.S. had last year ordered the departure of family members and non-essential staff during Israel’s war in Lebanon that had dealt severe blows to Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but that order was later lifted.
KEY QUOTE
“On June 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of State ordered the departure of family members and non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Lebanon due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region,” the State Department said in its notice.
The Israel-Iran war, which began on June 13 with Israeli attacks on Iran, has raised further alarms in a region that was already on edge since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
The U.S. State Department has a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for Lebanon.
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Reuters bureau chief for Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China trade tensions; the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan; the COVID-19 pandemic; and a 2019 Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in his native India.
