The Australian government has updated its travel guidance for Lebanon and is now advising "do not travel" to the country as its volatile security risks deteriorating further. On Sunday, the government had advised "reconsider the need to travel" to the Middle Eastern country, amid fears the Hamas-Israel war could spread to another front, with clashes at Israel's northern border with Lebanon the deadliest they have been in 17 years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has told Lebanese militant group Hezbollah not to start a war on a second front, threatening the "destruction of Lebanon" if it did. The group on Wednesday warned its adversaries on Wednesday it was "thousands of times stronger" than before, as it continued to exchange fire across the Israeli border, and announced two of its fighters had been killed.