As Egypt tells airlines to avoid Iran, region braces for attack on Israel

Egypt has told airlines to avoid Iranian airspace early Thursday morning local time as regional tensions soar amid an expected retaliatory attack by Iran on Israel.

Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement that it received information from Iranian authorities about “military exercises” that will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tehran time (4:00 a.m. ET to 7:00 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, and 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Tehran time on Thursday (9:00 p.m. ET Wednesday until midnight ET Thursday). The ministry ordered Egyptian airlines to not fly over Iranian airspace during the specified time frame to “avoid any dangers that affect aviation safety.”

Reuters reported that Egyptian authorities issued a NOTAM, a safety notice given to pilots, on Wednesday instructing aircraft to avoid flying over Iran for the same time period on Thursday.

New York Times journalist Farnaz Fassihi reported that Iran issued a NOTAM warning that gunfire will occur for several hours on Wednesday evening into Thursday over several parts of the country. Iran said that gunfire will be part of a military exercise, she noted in a post on X.

Iran has issued eight “missile, gun, or rocket firing” NOTAMS since July 31, according to the Washington-based Critical Threats Project. Two of the notices, in effect from Tuesday to Thursday, pertain to areas near civilian flight paths in western Iran that “presumably need to clear prior to conducting a retaliatory attack on Israel,” the project noted in a Tuesday report.

The flight map flightradar24 showed tens of flights over various parts of Iran as of 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The reports come as tensions mount in the Middle East over a widely expected Iranian attack on Israel. Iran has vowed to respond after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. Hamas and Iran both blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death, though Israel has not commented.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to use its inherent right to legitimate defense against the aggression by the regime,” Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, told the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Also last week, Israel killed senior Hezbollah military official Fuad Shukr in a strike in the Beirut suburbs. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed the group will respond. Meanwhile, cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah continued this week.

Flights have been disrupted in anticipation of the attack. Lufthansa announced on Wednesday an extension of its flights suspensions to Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Erbil. Earlier, Delta, United and other airlines suspended service to Tel Aviv.

The BBC reported on Wednesday that the British military is on standby in case they need to evacuate Britons from Lebanon.

Iran launched an unprecedented direct missile and drone attack on Israel in April following the alleged Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials. The attack did not result in considerable damage to Israel but left a small girl in the Negev desert seriously injured. Israel was suspected of carrying out a limited strike on a military base near Isfahan in central Iran in response.

Know more: Civilian airlines have been hit by Iranian fire before. Iranian forces shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 in Tehran in January of 2020 while striking US forces in neighboring Iraq, killing all 176 people on board. Iran ultimately said missiles were fired at the plane “erroneously.” Four years later, families of the victims have struggled to obtain justice, in part due to Iran’s obstruction of independent probes, Al-Monitor’s correspondent in Tehran reported in January of this year.