Lufthansa, Air France suspend flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut

Major airlines Lufthansa and Air France on Tuesday announced suspensions of flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut until Thursday as tensions in the region soared following pager explosions in Lebanon.

German group Lufthansa said it was suspending all flights to Tel Aviv and Iran's capital Tehran while French airline Air France suspended flights to the Israeli city and the Lebanese capital Beirut.

"Due to the recent change in the security situation, the Lufthansa Group airlines have decided to suspend all connections to and from Tel Aviv (TLV) and Tehran (IKA) with immediate effect," Lufthansa said in a statement.

"This applies up to and including September 19," it said.

"During this period, the Israeli and Iranian airspace will also be bypassed by all Lufthansa Group Airlines."

Lufthansa added that it was closely monitoring the situation and "will assess it further in the coming days".

Lufthansa last week already extended its suspension of flights to Beirut until October 15.

"Due to the security situation at the destinations, Air France is suspending its connections from Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut (Lebanon) and... Tel Aviv (Israel) until September 19, 2024 inclusive," the French company said in statement sent to news agency AFP.

Air France said it would "evaluate daily the situation" in the Middle East and insisted that "the safety of our customers and crews is the absolute priority".

Air France had previously suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut over the simmering tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah group.

Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and wounding some 2,800 in blasts the Iran-backed group blamed on Israel.

The Lufthansa group, whose carriers also include SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, has repeatedly modified its flight schedule in recent months due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, as have other airlines.