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The former British ambassador to Lebanon has told all UK tourists and citizens to “get on a plane now” as the Middle East is about to erupt.
Tom Flecther said at the moment it remains unclear “where or when” Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will attack Israel.
Last week the Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that there is an estimated 16,000 Brits who live in Lebanon and told them to “leave now.”
Tehran has promised that they will attack Israel for the assassination of the Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
The Iranian attack on Israel will instantly spark retaliation from Jerusalem who will then attack areas in Lebanon which are Hezbollah controlled and various sites in Iran, which could then spark proxy groups to get involved against Israel.
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Fletcher who was on the News Agents podcast said, “I think you have a combination of things. You’ve got that dialling up, that sense of an eye for an eye that is going on at the moment but you have also got these very overt belligerent threats from both sides that they are ready to escalate.”
He is “saying to friends and other people who are asking me [that] it’s time to get out.”
Fletcher added, “Listen to these warnings. They are serious warnings. Get out on commercial means.
“Of course, there is a great plan in place. I talked to our ambassador last night, a brilliant ambassador with a great team, and lots of experience.
“I remember this very well. We road-test this plan again and again. It must be the most tested UK Foreign Office crisis plan out there. But even with that in place, people should be getting on the plane now.”
The former British ambassador to Lebanon was asked if tensions in the Middle East will end as it did in April, Fletcher replied, “Maybe we are in the same scenario.
“Maybe everyone can agree that there will be a bit of a tit-for-tat, that the Iranians will choose a target that matches the losses that they have, but things are really on a knife edge, it’s a very, very risky strategy.
“And in the midst of all of that, there is such danger of miscalculation.
I still think that Hezbollah themselves don’t want this conflict to escalate. They know the risks that lie ahead if they do.
“I think the communities in northern Israel also don’t want this to escalate because they understand the risk of that too.
“The danger is of misstep if people are playing this game of bluff and counter-bluff and are pushing too far.”
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