Airlines suspend flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut amid renewed Israel-Hezbollah strikes

Jordan’s flag carrier Royal Jordanian suspended flights to Beirut on Sunday “due to the current situation,” the state news agency reported without giving an exact time frame for the suspension.

Officials told Reuters there was no disruption to Jordanian airspace.

Air France said Sunday it was suspending flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut for at least 24 hours after Israel launched air strikes into Lebanon.

“Flights today and tomorrow are suspended,” a spokesman for the airline said, adding that the suspension could be extended depending on the situation in the Middle East.

British Airways said that it was suspending its flights to and from Tel Aviv until Wednesday.

“We’ve been continually monitoring the situation in the Middle East and have taken the operational decision to suspend our flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including Wednesday 28 August,” a spokesman for the airline said.

“Safety is always our top priority, and we’re contacting customers to advise them of their travel options.”

Lebanon’s Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel early on Sunday in retaliation for the assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut on July 30.

The Israeli military said its jets hit targets in Lebanon shortly before the military assessed Hezbollah was preparing to launch the attacks.

The latest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah comes amid regional fears of a wider response by Iran and its regional proxies to the assassination of Palestinian Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.