Flights to and from Beirut Airport were canceled amid fears of an Israeli attack

Monday saw flights to and from Beirut airport canceled or postponed amid escalating tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah group after a raid on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teens.

Air France said on Monday that, given the security situation in this destination, it will suspend flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Beirut on July 29 and 30, noting that it is “monitoring the situation in Lebanon moment by moment.”

A spokesman for the Lufthansa Group stated that Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Eurowings, which are affiliated with the group, decided to suspend flights to and from Beirut until August 5 in light of the current developments in the Middle East.

The Lebanese Middle East Airlines said on Monday that the irregularity of its flight schedules is related to insurance risks.

Jordanian television reported on Monday, citing a statement by Royal Jordanian Airlines, that it had suspended two flights scheduled to Beirut on Monday and Tuesday.

The television quoted her as saying that she “will cancel Monday’s flight RJ403 and Tuesday’s flight RJ407, in accordance with the Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority’s decision to suspend all flights of national companies to Beirut Airport for a short period,” adding, “The evaluation is continuing regarding Tuesday’s flights.”

A missile attack that killed 12 people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday exacerbated fears of an all-out war between Israel and the Iran-allied Hezbollah group.

The Israeli Security Cabinet authorized the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu to respond to the attack. Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack, which caused a number of deaths, whether in Israel or in the territories it annexed, the largest since the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel ignited the fuse of war in Gaza.

The flight information display screen at Beirut Airport and the Flight Radar 24 flight tracking website showed that Turkish Airlines also canceled two flights last night.

Türkiye-based low-cost airline Sun Express and A.E. Turkish Airlines' Jet, Greek Aegean Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Middle East Airlines flights were scheduled to arrive in Beirut on Monday, according to Flightradar 24.

Airlines have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Beirut International Airport or Rafic Hariri Airport is the only airport in Lebanon. He had been targeted in the country's civil war and in previous wars with Israel, including the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

The Middle East Airlines said on Sunday that it had postponed the takeoff of some of its flights that were scheduled to arrive in Beirut at night on the same day. Additional delays were then announced for flights scheduled to land on Monday as a result of “technical reasons related to the distribution of aircraft insurance risks between Lebanon and other destinations.”

The exchange of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army across the border has increased since the outbreak of the Gaza war. The conflict, which has reverberated across the region, has disrupted air and shipping traffic, including during an exchange of drones and missiles between Israel and Iran in April.

Lufthansa had already suspended night flights to and from Beirut in July due to “current developments” in the Middle East.

Source: Reuters