BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia on Friday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately as the UN warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” if Israel’s invasion continued.
Israel has moved thousands of troops into southern Lebanon with the aim of occupying the entire area south of the Litani River, about 30 km north of the border.
The Kingdom’s Embassy in Beirut said Saudis should leave because of the “repercussions of the current events, and pointed out that a ban on travel to Lebanon had been in place for some years.
#بيان نظراً لتداعيات الأحداث الراهنة التي تشهدها الجمهورية اللبنانية الشقيقة، تجدد السفارة دعوتها للمواطنين المتواجدين في لبنان لمغادرة البلاد بشكل فوري التزاماً بقرار منع السفر إلى لبنان، وتنوه بضرورة التواصل مع السفارة في حال حدوث أي طارئ لا قدر الله. pic.twitter.com/BypzaLobPt
— سفارة المملكة لدى الجمهورية اللبنانية (@KSAembassyLB) March 27, 2026
Since March 2, more than a million Lebanese have been forced to flee their homes. “It is really a deepening humanitarian crisis that we here on the ground are seeing,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing of the refugee agency UNHCR. “The situation remains extremely worrying and the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe is real.
“More than 136,000 displaced people are staying in 660 collective shelters, most of them schools, filled far beyond capacity.”
There was limited access to sanitation, she said.
UNHCR is appealing for more than $60 million to scale up its response, and needs are rising faster than resources. “Lebanon was already facing multiple crises, and this massive displacement is adding immense pressure,” Lindholm Billing said.
“Again and again, people tell me the same thing: they simply want to go home.”
