Beirut flights halted as Israel tensions rise

German airline group Lufthansa said on Monday (July 29) it had suspend its services to Beirut until August 5 after Israel threatened reprisals for a deadly rocket strike launched from Lebanon, reported Gulf News.

Air France and low-cost carrier Transavia France have also suspended their flights between Paris and Beirut due to the “security situation” in Lebanon, a spokesman for the companies said Monday.

The group’s flights to Lebanon were cancelled as a result of “current developments in the Middle East”, a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP.

Israel said Sunday it would retaliate after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Israel blamed Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement but the Iran-backed group said it had “no connection” to the strike.

The incident heightened fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could spread north to Lebanon.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah have traded cross-border fire since early October, following the attack by the Lebanese group’s ally Hamas on southern Israel on October 7 which sparked the war in Gaza.

The Lufthansa group, which includes SWISS and Austrian Airlines, has repeatedly paused travel to the region since the conflict began.