German flag carrier Lufthansa announced the suspension of flights on Monday to and from Beirut amid escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
The postponement of five routes until July 30 applies to Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Swiss flag carrier Swiss International Air Lines and Eurowings. The Lufthansa Group said that the decision to suspend operations at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport was taken “in an abundance of caution.”
Lufthansa had previously suspended nighttime flights for July due to “current developments” in the Middle East.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA) said on Sunday that it had delayed some flight arrivals to Beirut until Monday morning, citing insurance risks. Additional delays to flights landing on Monday were subsequently announced, “due to technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks for aircraft between Lebanon and other destinations.”
Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle‘s DW News television program, citing data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24, reported that Turkey’s SunExpress, Turkish Airlines and subsidiary Ajet, Greek carrier Aegean Airlines and Ethiopian Air canceled flights scheduled to land in Beirut on Monday.
Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday night authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to retaliate against Hezbollah for Saturday’s deadly strike on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
During a four-hour meeting at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, lawmakers gave Netanyahu and Gallant the green light “to decide on the manner and timing of the response” against Iran’s Lebanese terrorist proxy.
Twelve children were killed and more than 40 people were wounded by the Hezbollah rocket strike on the northern Druze town, marking the Iranian proxy’s deadliest attack on Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
‘A central hub for transfer of weapons’
Israel hit Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on the second day of the 2006 Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah, striking all three runways at Lebanon’s only airport and putting it out of commission.
The New York Times at the time described the attack, which was the first on the airport by Israel since 1982:
Israel strikes “blasted craters into all three runways, but did not hit the main terminal. Israeli planes later attacked the fuel stores at the airport, setting at least one tank on fire and filling the night sky with flames.”
The Israeli military at the time said it struck the airport because it was “a central hub for the transfer of weapons and supplies to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
Airport workers told The Telegraph last month that Hezbollah is storing massive amounts of Iranian armament at Rafic Hariri International Airport.
Hezbollah has been accused of using the Beirut airport for weapon storage in the past, but whistleblowers say it has ramped up the practice since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
“This is extremely serious, mysterious large boxes arriving on direct flights from Iran are a sign that things got worse,” an airport worker told the Telegraph. “When they started to come through the airport, my friends and I were scared because we knew that there was something strange going on.”
He feared that an explosion, or an attack on the airport to destroy the weapons, could cause major damage to Beirut, similar to the 2020 port blast that devastated much of downtown. That explosion was blamed on a weapons warehouse belonging to Hezbollah.
‘Urgently requested to leave Lebanon’
On Monday, Germany issued an urgent call for its citizens to exit the Land of the Cedars, warning them that air travel could be completely disrupted if there is an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
Berlin said citizens are “urgently requested to leave Lebanon” in the update to its travel warning.
“A further escalation of the situation and expansion of the conflict cannot be ruled out. This applies, in particular, to the southern parts of Lebanon, including the southern urban areas of Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley, including the Baalbek-Hermel district. A further escalation could also lead to a complete suspension of air traffic from Rafiq Hariri Airport. Leaving Lebanon by air would then no longer be possible,” the German Federal Foreign Office said.
Norway’s embassy in Beirut urged its citizens to leave Lebanon in a social media post on Sunday.
“The conflict between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel has escalated. Norwegian authorities remind you of travel tips that encourage all Norwegian citizens to leave the country. In case the situation worsens, travel options outside Lebanon may become limited. In such a situation, the Norwegian embassy will have very limited resources to assist Norwegian citizens to leave the country,” the message stated.
The U.S. embassy in Beirut reposted to X on Sunday a travel warning from the State Department regarding flight cancellations and schedule adjustments.
“The embassy encourages U.S. citizens traveling to or from Lebanon to monitor their flight status closely, to be aware that itineraries could change with little or no warning, and to make alternate plans,” the State Department said.
“The security environment in Lebanon remains complex and can change quickly. The U.S. Embassy also reminds U.S. citizens to review the current Travel Advisory, which strongly urges U.S. citizens to reconsider travel to Lebanon.”
The Danish embassy in Lebanon also issued a travel advisory on Saturday, reposting to X a message from the citizen services of Copenhagen’s Foreign Ministry.
“We emphasize that we advise against all travel to Lebanon and encourage all Danes to leave the country while it is still possible.”
France and Belgium also urged their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.
