Iranian diplomats leave Lebanon after Israeli strikes near embassy

BEIRUT, March 7 (Reuters) – More than 150 Iranian nationals including diplomats and their families left Lebanon on Saturday, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters, after the Israeli military threatened Iran’s representatives in Lebanon and conducted strikes near the embassy.

The security source said they were being flown to Russia on a Russian plane, and that another 20 Iranians had left on Friday following the start of a new war between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel.

A source from the Iranian embassy in Beirut said a number of non-essential diplomats were leaving, but did not give a number. 

Iran’s foreign ministry confirmed in a later statement that Iranian nationals residing in Lebanon have temporarily left Beirut owing to the security situation in the country.

The Iranian embassy in Lebanon continues its normal operations and consular services for Iranian nationals residing there will continue as before, it added.

The war has refocused attention on Iran’s backing for Hezbollah, which launched rockets and drones at Israel on Monday and triggered heavy Israeli bombardment across Lebanon.

On Tuesday, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X that representatives of the Iranian government still in Lebanon should “leave immediately before they are targeted”. 

The following day, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked authorities to arrest and deport any Iranian Revolutionary Guards carrying out military activities in Lebanon, the first time authorities have hinted at the possible presence of Iranian forces on its territory.

The Lebanese government has not said whether it has determined that Iranian forces were operating in Lebanon. Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati earlier this week denied that any Iranian military forces were in the country. 

On Friday, Israeli air strikes hit an area near Iran’s embassy in Lebanon, two security sources told Reuters. The Iranian embassy source told Reuters that the strikes had driven the decision for Iranian diplomats to leave. 

But Lebanese authorities had also been planning to make moves against Iranian diplomats this week, two people familiar with the government’s discussions told Reuters.   

They said the Lebanese government had intended to expel diplomats from the country. Reuters could not determine whether the diplomats who had left so far were ousted or left for security reasons. 

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily, Editing by Timothy Heritage, Jan Harvey and Alistair Bell)