Some major European airlines, including Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa, suspended flights to and from Israel and Lebanon on Sunday, with some extending the suspension until Wednesday.
BRUSSELS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — Several major airlines of European countries announced on Sunday the suspension of their flights to and from Israel and Lebanon amid escalating hostilities between the two Middle Eastern countries.
According to French news channel BFMTV, Air France has decided to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, and Beirut, Lebanon, until at least Monday due to growing tensions in the region.
“Today’s and tomorrow’s flights are cancelled,” an Air France spokesman said, noting that the suspension could be extended after the company makes a new assessment on Monday.
British Airways also announced a suspension of all flights to and from Tel Aviv (Israel) until Wednesday.
“Due to the escalating situation in the region, Wizz Air is temporarily suspending flights to and from Israel on August 25,” the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air also announced on its website.
Greek airline Aegean Airlines canceled several flights to Israel and Beirut on Sunday. The airline’s official website lists three flights to Tel Aviv and two flights to Beirut, including one scheduled for Monday, as canceled.
The German airline Lufthansa has extended its suspension of flights to Beirut until September 30 and to Tel Aviv and Tehran until September 2.
Heavy exchanges of fire broke out between Israeli and Hezbollah forces along the Israeli-Lebanese border early Sunday morning, marking a significant escalation of their long-standing conflict.
Hezbollah claimed it fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. In response, Israel reported numerous preemptive strikes against Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
Following the heaviest exchange of fire between the two sides in the Middle East, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his Defence Secretary John Healey called their respective counterparts in Israel on Sunday and called for an immediate ceasefire in the region, according to their posts on X (formerly known as Twitter).
In early August, as tensions rose on the Lebanese-Israeli border, many European countries urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Meanwhile, some European airlines, including Air France and Romania’s national carrier TAROM, suspended flights but later resumed operations before this latest escalation. ■
