Canada issues updated travel advisory for southern Lebanon amid Israeli border clashes

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Canadians are being urged to avoid all non-essential travel to southern Lebanon amid ongoing clashes.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire over the border following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip. In a travel advisory update on Friday, Global Affairs Canada advised against all travel south of Lebanon's Litani River.

The update followed a general travel advisory issued Thursday.

"Avoid non-essential travel to Lebanon due to an unpredictable security situation, the increased risk of terrorist attack and the armed conflict with Israel," the travel advisory said. "The security situation can deteriorate without warning."

As Israel focuses on the conflict with Hamas in its south, there are fears that long-simmering tensions with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will continue to escalate along its northern border. Clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops this week have reportedly already resulted in deaths and injuries on both sides. On Friday, a journalist was also killed and six others were wounded by an Israeli shell while covering the conflict from Lebanon.

"Avoid the area south of the Litani River, as rockets fired into northern Israel are usually followed by retaliatory shelling," Global Affairs Canada warned.

Hamas and Hezbollah, also spelled as “Hizballah,”  are both considered terrorist organizations by countries including Canada. The Hezbollah political party currently holds 15 seats in Lebanon's 128-seat parliament.

"One of the most technically capable terrorist groups in the world, Hizballah is a radical Shia group ideologically inspired by the Iranian revolution," Public Safety Canada explains in its list of terrorist entities. "Its goals are the liberation of Jerusalem, the destruction of Israel, and, ultimately, the establishment of a revolutionary Shia Islamic state in Lebanon, modelled after Iran."

The Canadian travel advisory excludes the historic coastal city Tyre and surrounding areas.

With files from the Associated Press