The State Department updated its Lebanon Travel Warning due to "security threats and ongoing political violence." The warning urges that Americans avoid all travel to Lebanon and that American citizens in Lebanon consider carefully the risks of remaining.

This supersedes the Travel Warning for Lebanon issued on April 21, 2008. Violence broke out on May 7 in Beirut, when Hizballah militants blocked the road leading to Rafiq Hariri International Airport. As of May 12, 2008, the airport remains inaccessible.

The Warning reports that Hizballah fighters continue to push into areas of Lebanon where they have not traditionally been prevalent. In addition to the violence provoked by these incursions, the U.S. remains concerned about the threat of terrorist attacks against Western interests in Lebanon. Groups such as Al-Qaeda and Jund al-Sham are present in the country and have issued statements calling for attacks against Western interests in the past.