Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week implored the Harris-Biden administration to “do more to help” Americans stranded in Lebanon as the Middle East teeters on the brink of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
“We have already heard reports of confirmed deaths and are concerned that there will be more deaths,” Whitmer said in a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Get Detroit News. “We cannot stand by and watch our constituents and their families suffer.”
Democrats noted that some Americans have reported having their flights out of Beirut canceled at the last minute and being forced to pay as much as $8,000 for a ticket out of the country.
The State Department provided the Post with comments from press secretary Matthew Miller to reporters on Thursday.
“We have been advising Americans to leave the country for several months now,” Miller said. “We have been telling Americans that the security situation is unstable and that they should leave the country through commercial means while it is safe to do so.”
Earlier this week, Miller acknowledged that the United States is “not evacuating American citizens from Lebanon at this time.”
“If necessary, we are considering other possible options. However, no decision has been made yet at this time,” he added.
The State Department is Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory On September 28, he ordered the diplomat's family to leave the country in opposition to his visit to Lebanon.
A day earlier, Israel carried out an airstrike on the terror group's headquarters in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Hezbollah's notorious longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran, which has long backed Hezbollah as one of its proxy powers, fired some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday night in retaliation for Nasrallah's death, its second direct attack on the Jewish state this year. It became.
Israel has vowed to retaliate.
President Biden, 81, has publicly opposed the possibility of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in retaliation.
The Harris-Biden administration has previously faced criticism for its slow evacuation of global hotspots.
This includes backlash over the lack of a plan for the removal of U.S. nationals, personnel, and Afghan allies during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Last year, many Americans were stranded in the region in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which also stoked anger at the White House.
Whitmer had wrote a letter Again, he begged Blinken to help bring Michiganders trapped in the Gaza Strip back to the United States.
The newspaper has reached out to both of Whitmer's offices for comment.
