Nigeria to evacuate her citizens from Lebanon as prospect of all-out Middle East war looms

NIGERIA'S federal government has stepped up arrangements to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon following the escalation of tensions in the Middle East over the last few weeks as the prospect of a full blown war looms.

Over the last few days, the prospect of an all-out Middle East war has loomed large after escalating tensions between Israel and Iran. In retaliation for Israeli attacks, Iran fired about 200 missiles into Israel and although most of them were intercepted, about seven were said to have struck their targets, with one said to have hit a school.

Israel has promised to retaliate, raising fears that Iran will soon be attacked in a manner similar to Lebanon and Gaza, which have both been pummelled with Israeli missiles. There is a sizeable Nigerian community in Lebanon and President Bola Tinubu's spokesman Dada Olusegun, has urged them to all contact the Nigerian mission in Beirut for documentation, to enable them leave the country.

Mr Olusegun said: "All Nigerians in Lebanon are expected to get in touch with the Nigerian mission for profiling and documentation and subsequent evacuation."

Global powers, including China and Saudi Arabia, are calling for calm and dialogue but their words appear to have gone unheeded as Israel launched a fresh series of attacks on the Lebanese capital Beirut today. Israel's army has also issued multiple evacuation orders for people living in several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying it was attacking terrorist targets.

Iran said its attack on Israel was in retaliation for the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. It also warned of devastating and destructive attacks if Israel responded.

Information coming from the Nigerian community in Lebanon indicated that most of them have relocated from the southern part of the country which borders Israel and are now relatively safe. They have been advised by the mission to keep safe until the ceasefire is in place and so far, no Nigerian has witnessed any form of accident or injury.