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Zhao Ziwen

China has urged its citizens living in Israel and Lebanon to evacuate immediately, citing a “serious, complex, and volatile” security situation.
The Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv sent out an alert on Sunday as the intensifying cross-border conflict between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah deepened fears of an all-out war.
“The situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border is extremely tense, characterised by frequent military confrontations,” the embassy said, advising Chinese nationals in Israel to return as soon as possible or to relocate to safer areas.
“The security situation in Israel is serious, complex, and volatile,” it warned.
Those choosing to remain were urged to follow local security guidelines and avoid non-essential travel.
They were also advised to prepare against “missiles, rockets, drones, and other types of attacks” and stay away from northern Israel, which borders Lebanon.
The Chinese mission in the Lebanese capital of Beirut also issued a similar warning on Monday, urging Chinese nationals to leave as soon as possible and avoid the southern regions near Israel.


China had issued a travel warning for Israel in October last year, days after the Israeli army began bombing Gaza – a Hamas stronghold – in retaliation for the Palestinian militant group’s deadly cross-border raid on October 7.
In August, it issued a travel warning for Lebanon, after conflicts on the border with Israel and deadly Israeli air strikes on Lebanese capital Beirut targeting the Hezbollah leadership. Cross-border fighting has escalated alongside the war in Gaza.
The evacuation notice from the embassy in Tel Aviv follows six safety warnings issued this year.
Sunday’s alert came after an exchange of intense air strikes between Israel and Hezbollah following deadly pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon and Syria last week.
At least 37 people, including children, were killed and around 3,000 wounded in the blasts over last Tuesday and Wednesday. Hezbollah – a Shia militant group and political party backed by Iran – blames Israel for the attacks.
While Israel has not commented on the allegations, it has declared a “new phase in the war”, fanning long-held fears of a wider conflict.
On Saturday, an Israeli air strike on a residential neighbourhood in Beirut killed two high-ranking Hezbollah commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, both pivotal figures in the group’s elite Radwan special operations force. More than 35 others were also killed, according to Lebanese officials.


In retaliation, Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets, cruise missiles, and drones towards northern Israel on Sunday, prompting Israeli air strikes on Monday that reportedly extended as far as Hermel in northeastern Lebanon – about 130km (80 miles) from the Israeli border. According to the Lebanese health ministry, 100 people were killed and more than 400 others injured in the latest attacks.
This came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah deputy secretary general Naim Qassem vowed to intensify military actions along the border, signalling a protracted conflict.
However, some Chinese in Israel remain unfazed. Alice Zhang, a Chinese national who lives near Tel Aviv, said that her daily life remained “totally unaffected”. According to her, most people in central and southern Israel have been going about their lives as usual.
Zhang, who has lived in Israel for 10 years and is married to an Israeli national, remains hopeful that the escalation with Hezbollah will not last too long. Contrasting the situation in northern Israel with the nearly year-long violence in Gaza, she said: “[The situation there] won’t go on as long as in the Gaza Strip.”


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China-Middle East relations

Chinese told to leave Israel and Lebanon as border situation becomes ‘extremely tense’

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes on Monday as cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah intensify. Photo: Reuters

China fears further Middle East fallout from deadly walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon

The remains of a walkie-talkie that exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Israel-Hezbollah exchanges intensify on Lebanon border after pager, walkie-talkie blasts

A man tries to extinguish flames following a rocket attack from Lebanon, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Photo: Reuters

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in the southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh. Photo: AFP

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in Khiam, Lebanon. Photo: Xinhua

Site of a rocket attack in northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. On Thursday, the Israel Defence Forces reported that Hezbollah launched drone and missile strikes into northern Israel. Photo: Xinhua

A communication device on the ground as Lebanese forces prepare to destroy it in a controlled explosion. Photo: AFP

Hezbollah hits back with rockets as it declares an ‘open-ended battle’ with Israel

Men hang an Israeli flag over a damaged building in Kiryat Bialik, Israel. Photo: Reuters

A funeral procession for Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil, who was killed on Friday. Photo: AP

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Zibqin on  Sunday. Photo: AFP

Israeli warplanes striking ‘widely’ in Lebanon, US urges its citizens to leave

Smoke billows at the site of an Israeli air strike on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar on Saturday. Photo: AFP

A man shouts slogans on Saturday during the funeral of three Hezbollah commanders who were killed in an Israeli air strike on a Beirut suburb. Photo: dpa

Lebanon says Israeli air strikes kill nearly 500 in deadliest day in decades

Smoke rises from Israeli air strikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, seen from the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanon, on Monday. Photo: AP

Rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel, as seen from northern Israel. Photo: Reuters

Cars in traffic as people flee southern villages amid ongoing Israeli air strikes, in Sidon, Lebanon. Photo: AP

News

China

Diplomacy

Embassies in Tel Aviv and Beirut issue alerts as intense exchange of air strikes deepens fears of all-out war


Embassies in Tel Aviv and Beirut issue alerts as intense exchange of air strikes deepens fears of all-out war.


Israel-Gaza war

Lebanon