An Air France passenger plane was nearly hit by ballistic missiles during Iran’s 200-missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1.
The flight, according to a report by the German news outlet Bild, departed Paris en route to Dubai. As it passed through southwestern Iraqi airspace, just before 7:45 p.m. Israel time, the pilots noticed missiles near their aircraft.
An Air France spokesperson refused to comment on the details of the incident but mentioned that the airline had opened an internal investigation to assess the incident.
The company noted that at 8 p.m. Israel time, Air France halted all flights over Iraqi airspace. It also completely avoided flying over the airspace of Israel, Lebanon and Iran on that day, opting for a different route used by other airlines.
Iraqi authorities also closed their airspace to flights, but the order to shut down the country’s airspace came about an hour after Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Iran was previously involved in an international crisis when it downed a Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane on Jan. 8, 2020, almost immediately after departure from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 people aboard. Iran denied responsibility for the crash, but later admitted that its air defense forces had mistakenly shot down the plane.
The incident occurred hours after Iran attacked U.S. military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination in Baghdad of Qasem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force. It is believed that Iran’s military, on high alert after their own strike, mistakenly identified the civilian aircraft as an enemy plane and fired a missile, leading to the crash.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
