ZüRICH: Lufthansa Group, including Swiss, suspends flights to Beirut.
Like the entire Lufthansa group, Swiss is suspending its connections to Beirut. The number one in air transport in Europe has cancelled its return flights to the Lebanese capital until Monday, August 5 inclusive, the German giant announced on Monday.
The measure, justified for security reasons, concerns, in addition to Lufthansa and Swiss, the subsidiary Eurowings.
Israel promised Sunday to respond "with force" to a strike that it blames on Lebanese Hezbollah, which killed twelve young people playing on a football field on the annexed Syrian Golan Heights on Saturday. The Israeli security cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to "decide how and when to respond to the Hezbollah organization."
The incident has rekindled fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement, could spread to Lebanon.
Other airlines have also cancelled or rescheduled flights following the events. Air France and Transavia France have also announced that they will suspend their services to Beirut on Monday and Tuesday "due to the security situation at the destination".
A flight by Greek airline Aegean was cancelled overnight from Sunday to Monday, a Greek airport source told AFP on Monday. Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines said in a statement that it had rescheduled a number of flights on Sunday and Monday, citing "technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks".
Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been exchanging cross-border fire since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October. In this context, the Lufthansa Group has repeatedly interrupted its trips to the region in recent months since the start of the conflict.
Add comment
Comments