THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday reiterated its appeal to Filipinos in Lebanon to leave the country, after the deadly pager and walkie-talkie explosions that killed over 30 people and injured some 3,000, including members of the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group which blamed the attacks on Israel.

Late on Thursday, Israeli warplanes carried out late their most intense strikes on southern Lebanon in nearly a year of war, heightening the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah amid calls for restraint.

The intense barrage followed attacks earlier in the week attributed by Lebanon and Hezbollah to Israel that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers, killing 37 people and wounding about 3,000 in Lebanon.

No Filipino was injured in the attacks but Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said that should not be a reason for Filipinos to be complacent as the tension could still spiral into a full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We cannot advise Filipinos not to operate cell phones. That’s why the embassy is just informing Filipinos to stay at home as much as possible and not make unnecessary travels across the country,” De Vega said over ABS-CBN News channel, adding that Filipinos should avail themselves of the government’s repatriation program or return to Manila while commercial flights out of Lebanon is still available.

He said Alert Level 3 is still in effect in Lebanon. The alert was raised last year when Hezbollah and Israel traded near daily fire after Hamas fighters attacked the Jewish state in October, killing over 1,000 and abducting some 200 persons.

De Vega said about 500 out of 11,000 Filipinos in Lebanon have since availed themselves of the voluntary repatriation program to Manila, but he added, most are choosing to stay in the country.

Majority of the over 11, 000 Filipinos in Lebanon are living in areas far away from the Israel-Lebanon border where most of the clashes are reported.

De Vega said the DFA is waiting for an update from the embassy if there is a need to elevate to Alert Level 4, which could call for mandatory repatriation of all Filipinos in Lebanon.

In Thursday’s late operation, Israel’s military said its jets over two hours struck hundreds of multiple-rocket-launcher barrels in southern Lebanon that were set to be fired immediately toward Israel.

Israel’s military vowed to continue to attack Hezbollah and said its strikes throughout Thursday hit about 100 rocket launchers plus other targets in southern Lebanon.

In a TV address on Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the device explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday “crossed all red lines.”

“The enemy went beyond all controls, laws and morals,” he said, adding the attacks “could be considered war crimes or a declaration of war.”

Israel has not directly commented on the pager and radio detonations, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of carrying out sophisticated attacks on foreign soil. – With Reuters