Hours after Israel’s security cabinet authorised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his defence minister to decide how to retaliate for a deadly attack in the Golan Heights, airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa on Monday cancelled or delayed flights to Beirut. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack. The Lebanese-based militant group has denied responsibility.
Flights to and from Beirut airport were cancelled or delayed on Monday as tensions escalated between Israel and the armed political group Hezbollah after a strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers.
Air France said on Monday that due to the security situation at the destination, it will suspend flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut for the days of July 29 and 30, 2024.
"Air France is monitoring the situation in Lebanon in real time," the airline said.
Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings of the Lufthansa Group have decided to suspend their flights to and from Beirut up to and including August 5 due to the current developments in the Middle East, a group spokesperson said.
Lebanon's Middle East Airlines (MEA) said disruptions to its schedule were related to insurance risks.
Jordan's flag carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines has suspended flights to Beirut on Monday and Tuesday, Jordanian Television reported, citing a statement from the airline on Monday.
The airline said evaluation was ongoing regarding flights scheduled for Tuesday.
Turkey-based budget carrier SunExpress, Turkish Airlines subsidiary AJet, Greek carrier Aegean Airlines, Ethiopian Air and MEA have also cancelled flights scheduled to land in Beirut on Monday, Flightradar24 shows.
The airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport is Lebanon's only airport. It has been targeted in the country's civil war, and previous fighting with Israel, including in the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
The rocket strike in the Golan Heights on Saturday has added to concerns of a regional spillover of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas and has said its cross-border attacks since Israel launched the Gaza war after the October 7 attacks are in support of the Palestinian militant group.
But Hezbollah has denied responsibility for Saturday's rocket attack in the Golan Heights although the group claimed multiple strikes on Israeli military positions that day.
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Israeli Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu, who visited the site of the rocket strike Monday, has said "Hezbollah will pay a heavy price".
Netanyahu on Sunday convened his security cabinet, whose members "authorised the prime minister and the defence minister to decide on the manner and timing of the response", the prime minister's office said without elaborating.
Hezbollah has evacuated some positions in south and east Lebanon, a source close to the group told AFP.
On Monday, Hezbollah said it had launched "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at an Israeli military site following the "assassination" of two of its fighters.
A source close to the group told AFP the pair were killed in an air raid on Lebanon's southern village of Mais al-Jabal.
The cross-border violence has so far killed at least 529 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally, most of them fighters but also including 104 civilians.
On the Israeli side, 24 civilians and 22 soldiers have been killed, according to the military.
The conflict has disrupted flights and shipping across the region, including during reciprocal drone and missile attacks between Israel and Iran in April.
Lufthansa has already suspended night-time flights to and from Beirut for July due to "current developments" in the Middle East.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
