US, British airlines cancel flights to Israel amid rising tensions: Media

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Three American and British airlines canceled their flights to Israel Wednesday in response to escalating security tensions as Tel Aviv braces for possible retaliation from the Lebanese Hezbollah group following the assassination of one of its key military leaders in Beirut.

Israeli Army Radio reported that American carriers United Airlines and Delta Air Lines decided on the move following the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr on Tuesday.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily also confirmed that British Airways had announced the suspension of its flights to Israel.

“United Airlines, which operates 14 weekly flights to Tel Aviv, informed customers of flight cancellations for the coming days,” the newspaper said.

“Delta canceled Wednesday's and Thursday's flights from New York,” it added.

The newspaper noted that “British Airways also announced cancellations, though it is unclear if they are for the next 24 or 48 hours.”

On Monday, Austrian Airlines and Germany’s Lufthansa suspended flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

In April, Israel closed its airspace for seven hours due to a heavy drone and missile attack by Iran, which was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on Tehran's embassy in Damascus. The attack killed 16 people, including a senior Iranian Quds Force officer.

Security tensions in Israel have surged after Tel Aviv announced the assassination of Shukr, 63, in an airstrike on a building in southern Beirut on Tuesday night. Hezbollah confirmed Shukr's assassination on Wednesday evening.

Hours later, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas said that Tel Aviv assassinated its political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in an Israeli airstrike targeting his residence in Tehran. Haniyeh had arrived in the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Fears have grown of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid a months-long exchange of cross-border fire.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of an Israeli onslaught on Gaza which has killed more than 39,400 people since last October following an attack by Hamas.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio