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Mass Escape from Beirut International Airport
Mass Escape from Beirut International Airport
On Monday, Lebanese Middle East Airlines announced that the irregular schedules of their flights were due to insurance risks arising from escalating tensions between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, leading to the cancellation or delay of some flights at Beirut Airport.
These developments followed a rocket attack that killed 12 people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, increasing fears of a full-scale war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, according to Reuters.
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The Israeli security cabinet authorized the government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, to respond to the attack. Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack, which resulted in the highest number of casualties in both Israel and the annexed territories since Hamas' attack on Israel ignited the Gaza war on October 7th.
The departure and arrival schedules at Beirut Airport and the flight tracking site "Flight Radar 24" showed that Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings canceled three flights to Beirut scheduled for Monday afternoon.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Lufthansa Group announced the suspension of its flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut until July 30th due to the current situation in the Middle East, before extending the suspension until August 5th. The company added that this measure includes flights by Swiss International Air Lines, Eurowings, and Lufthansa as a precautionary measure.
Data from "Flight Radar 24" also showed that Turkish Airlines canceled two flights on Sunday night. Turkish low-cost carrier SunExpress, Turkish Airlines subsidiary Anadolujet, Greek airline Aegean Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, and Middle East Airlines canceled flights scheduled to arrive in Beirut on Monday. The airlines have yet to respond to requests for comment.
It is noteworthy that Beirut International Airport, known as Rafic Hariri Airport, is the only airport in Lebanon. The airport was targeted during the Lebanese Civil War and in previous conflicts with Israel, including the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
In a related context, Middle East Airlines stated on Sunday that it had postponed the departure of some flights scheduled to arrive in Beirut that night. Additional delays were later announced for flights scheduled to land on Monday for technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks on aircraft between Lebanon and other destinations.
Levant News
