Foreign Office issues urgent new travel warning for 17 countries

Brits heading to certain popular winter holiday spots have been issued an urgent travel warning by the UK Foreign Office. The Government body has updated its advice for travelling to a number of countries including Egypt and Morocco.

As of September 29, more than 17 nations have a new warning in place. It follows Israel's bombing of Lebanon in response to missile attacks, The Sun reports. The situation has since escalated, with Israel sending tanks across the border and Iran launching missile attacks in response.

Travel advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) says: "Ongoing hostilities between Israel and Lebanon could escalate quickly and pose risks for the wider region. Monitor this travel advice and other media as the situation is changing fast."

Lebanon borders Syria and Israel, but is also near to Cyprus and Egypt. The travel advice is also in place for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has become a popular destination in recent years with many Brits travelling to Dubai in search of hot weather.

Other destinations included in this warning are Tunisia, Jordan, Oman and Qatar. The FCDO does not currently advise against travel to these countries, apart from a few small areas including the borders.

People have been urged to check the travel advice before they visit any of the countries with the warning in place. If the advice updates to advising against all travel, tour operators will issue full refunds for anyone with holidays booked.

But if you cancel a trip yourself without a travel warning in place, you are unlikely to get any money back.

As a result of the incident, airlines are diverting their routes to avoid flying over the Middle East. And both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are now flying over Egypt to avoid flying over Israel.

The warning follows the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel in a rocket strike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on Friday. Hezbollah said it is ready to fight an Israel ground offensive.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

To check if a specific country is affected by the FCDO's warnings visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.