【Epoch Times, February 23, 2026】As the risk of military conflict between the United States and Iran escalates, the U.S. State Department officially ordered the evacuation of non-emergency government personnel and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon on Monday, February 23rd. This decision was made following the latest security review to address the increasingly tense situation in the Middle East.
According to senior State Department officials who provided background information to The Epoch Times, the U.S. has decided to reduce the staff at the Beirut Embassy to only essential personnel.
The official emphasized, “We continue to assess the security environment, and based on the latest review, we have decided to scale down personnel to a necessary level as a cautious measure.” The embassy is not being closed, and core staff members are still stationed there to maintain operations. This is a temporary measure aimed at ensuring the safety of personnel while retaining the ability to assist local American citizens.
According to Reuters citing Beirut airport officials, 32 embassy personnel and their families had already departed on Monday, with another embassy source indicating that the total number of evacuees may have reached 50.
On February 19th, President Trump publicly warned that if Iranian authorities continue to refuse to reach an agreement on the nuclear program dispute, “very bad things will happen.” Currently, the U.S. has significantly increased its military deployment in the region to deter Iran.
The swift preventive evacuation by the U.S. this time is widely seen as an effort to avoid a repeat of the tragedies of the 1980s. During the Lebanese Civil War, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah had launched multiple devastating attacks on American targets, including:
April 1983: Suicide bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut resulting in the deaths of 49 personnel.
October 1983: Bombing attack on the U.S. Marine Barracks, leading to the deaths of 241 servicemen.
Currently, armed forces guided by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, are still actively operating within Lebanese territory, posing a potential security risk.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. military has amassed over a dozen ships in the Middle East. “Maintaining operational capability” includes real-time coordination between the Regional Security Office (RSO) of the embassy and the military command system to ensure that in case Beirut Airport closes due to conflict, the Marine Corps can evacuate from Awkar, near the embassy location on the coast, via helicopters or landing craft.