The Israel National Security Council on Wednesday urged its citizens to evacuate Arugam Bay, the south and west coastal areas of Sri Lanka, without delay due to a suspected terrorist threat. The US embassy has also issued a security alert to its citizens in Sri Lanka saying that it had received “credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area.”
In a statement, the Israel National Security Council asked the Israeli citizens in Sri Lanka to be extremely “cautious” and said that they must exercise increased precaution.
“The travel alert for Arugam Bay and the coastal areas in south and west Sri Lanka, including for the cities Ahangame, Galle, Hikkaduwa and Weligama has been raised to level 4. We recommend leaving these areas immediately. For those currently in these areas, we recommend leaving the country or at least traveling to the capital city Colombo, where there is heavier presence of local security forces. For the rest of Sri Lanka, the travel warning has been raised to level 3, and we recommend that Israelis planning to travel to Sri Lanka delay any non-necessary trips to the country. If you do travel to Sri Lanka, avoid the areas for which level-4 travel alerts have been issued,” the statement said.
It asked the citizens to avoid openly exhibiting anything that could identify them as Israeli, like wearing t-shirts with Hebrew writing or any symbol that discloses their religion or nationality. “Avoid gatherings of Israeli citizens in public places where there is no security. Report any suspicion or unusual event to local security forces,” it said in the statement. It also said that the Israel security forces are in close contact with the Sri Lankan security forces through the relevant organisations and are monitoring the developments.
Arugam Bay area is a popular tourist destination located in the South eastern region of Sri Lanka, in the Tamil dominated Ampara district. The bay area, considered the surf capital of Sri Lanka, has been drawing a huge tourist crowd. The scenic beauty and the picturesque locality sandwiched between Pottuvil and Panama in Ampara has been attracting a huge number of Israeli tourists as the surfers can enjoy the long waves in this part of Sri Lanka. Israelis usually come to Arugam Bay during the surfing season in March and then later in October every year. This time too, at least 50 percent of the tourists in Arugam bay were from Israel.
Recently, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Dr Vijitha Herath had voiced the country’s concern over Israel’s attack on Gaza and also called for an immediate ceasefire. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is turning more dire by the day, and recent developments that have an impact on wider regional dimensions, in particular in Lebanon are most concerning,” Vijitha Herath had said.
Israel’s warning now and the subsequent advisory from the US has raised alarm among the tourists in the south eastern part of Sri Lanka.