UK instructs its airlines to avoid Beirut's airspace due to potential military activity

GENEVA

The UK on Wednesday instructed its airlines to avoid Beirut's airspace due to potential military activity amid rising tension between Israel and Iran.

An alert to pilots of potential hazards along a flight route said the instruction would be effective from 16:40GMT today to several months from now, on Nov. 4, according to a government website.

Israel is on a high military alert for a potential Iranian attack following last week’s assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh. While Hamas and Iran accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh’s assassination, Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

Lebanese group Hezbollah has also threatened to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of its senior commander Fouad Shukr in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb on July 30.

The escalation comes amid Israel’s devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.