Beirut Airport, in Lebanon, cancels flights due to fear of Israeli attack | Aviation News

The cancellations come amid fears of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah following the rocket attack.

Flights at Beirut airport have been canceled or delayed with Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA) stating that disruptions to its schedule were related to insurance risks as tensions rise between Israel and the armed political group Hezbollah .

Lufthansa said on Monday it had suspended five routes to and from Beirut of group airlines Swiss International Air Lines, Eurowings and Lufthansa until July 30 inclusive, “out of an abundance of caution”.

A rocket attack that killed 12 teenagers and children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday has raised concerns that Israel and the Iran-backed group could engage in a full-scale war.

Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday authorized the government to respond to the attack.

Hezbollah has denied any responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since the Hamas attack on October 7 triggered the war in Gaza, which has since spread across multiple fronts.

Beirut airport’s flight information board and flight tracking website Flightradar24 show that Turkish Airlines also canceled two flights overnight on Sunday.

Turkey-based budget carrier SunExpress, Turkish Airlines subsidiary AJet, Greek carrier Aegean Airlines, Ethiopian Air and MEA have also canceled 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 the only airport in Lebanon.

It was the target of the country’s civil war and previous fighting with Israel, including the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

On Sunday, the MEA said it had delayed the departure of some flights that were supposed to land in Beirut overnight.

Additional delays to flights landing on Monday were then announced due to “technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks for aircraft between Lebanon and other destinations,” the MEA said.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have increased cross-border firefights since the start of the war in Gaza.

The conflict disrupted flights and shipping across the region, including during tit-for-tat drone and missile attacks 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.