Major European airlines Air France and Lufthansa have announced the suspension of flights to key Middle Eastern destinations as tensions escalate between Israel and Lebanon.
The move comes in response to recent security incidents in the region, particularly a series of explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday evening.
Air France stated on Tuesday that it is suspending services from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Beirut and Tel Aviv until September 19 due to growing security concerns. The French carrier said operations would resume following a thorough assessment of the situation.
Similarly, Lufthansa Group announced earlier on Tuesday that it is suspending all connections to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran. The German airline conglomerate, which includes carriers such as Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines, also plans to bypass Israeli and Iranian airspace until September 19.
These decisions follow a series of explosive events in Lebanon that resulted in at least eight deaths and injured 2,750 people, including many Hezbollah fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut. Hezbollah has accused Israel of detonating pagers used for communication, describing it as the “biggest security breach” the group has faced in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
The Israeli military has not commented on the allegations, but the incident has significantly heightened tensions in the region, raising concerns about a potential wider conflict.
Air France and Lufthansa join a growing list of airlines that have adjusted their services to the Middle East in recent months. Prior to the latest incident, several carriers including KLM, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines had already suspended or reduced flights to Tel Aviv and other destinations in the region.
The situation remains volatile, with the UN expressing deep concern over the developments in Lebanon.
“The developments today mark an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context,” the UN’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement.
She urged all concerned “to refrain from any further action, or bellicose rhetoric, which could trigger a wider conflagration that nobody can afford,” adding that restoring calm should be the utmost priority because “too much is at stake to do anything less.”
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