In a tit-for-tat air-only conflict between Israel and Iran, Israel has fired its latest salvo, and flight disruptions abound.
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Israel Launches Offensive
Israel has launched an offensive against Iran, *limited in scope (a prior version of this post cited a report that seven cities had been targeted as well as sites in Iraq and Syria which has since been rescinded.) According to reports, in the early hours of the morning, Israel sent a combination of missiles and drones to targets throughout the country triggering air defense systems.
The attack appeared to be far more limited than the Iranian response last week with one Iranian official stating just three small drones were sent and shot down without incident. Military targets included an air base housing F-14 Tomcats and another, an army radar station.
“Iranian air defenses have shot down three drones, allegedly launched by Israel, according to Iran’s space agency.
“They said that we fired 500 suicide drones and missiles… now they respond with three of these quadcopter, all of which were shut down,” Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian writes on X.
“They just say that they didn’t inform America before,” he adds with emoji smiles, in an apparent jab at recent tensions in relations between Israel and the United States amid the ongoing war in Gaza.” – Times of Israel
Scenes in the central city of Isfahan appeared calm. Rumors swirled that Iranian nuclear sites were targeted but this has been mostly debunked.
How The Conflict Escalated
According to regional news agencies, some weeks ago Israel assassinated a senior Iranian military official in Iran’s Syrian embassy. Israel did this while continuing to fight in Gaza, a war that has nearly reached 200 days. Unlike the beginning of the Gaza conflict which stemmed from an October 7th surprise attack on Israel, the Iranian attack was against an official from a state that had not yet fired on Israel, the strike was done in another country that again is not part of the Gaza conflict and it took place at a Diplomatic facility.
Iran struck Israel in response with 300 munitions, most of which were shot down by US, UK, and Israeli forces inflicting nearly no damage according to officials.
Today’s Israeli strike on Iran is in response to that event last week. Brent Crude Oil prices were up 3% on the news.
Flight Disruptions
Iranian state television noted that Iran closed its airspace as defense measures took place and attacks began. Flights from the country’s largest airport in Tehran closed as well.
“Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran about 4:30 a.m. local time. They offered no explanation, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.” – Associated Press
UPDATED:
“Flights to Israel are set to remain disrupted for months amid heightened tensions with Iran, while other routes may take longer as airlines skirt the volatile region.
British low-cost carrier easyJet on Tuesday said it was extending its suspension of Israel flights for the remainder of the summer season, until Oct. 27, and would refund customers due to fly.
Rival Wizz Air resumed flights to Tel Aviv on Tuesday but said that passengers may experience “schedule changes” and that it was monitoring the situation.
Dutch airline KLM canceled flights to Israel until April 21, and said it was not flying over Iran and Israel. Air India said it had temporarily suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv and its Tuesday service was listed as canceled.
Germany’s Lufthansa Group said it had resumed flights to Tel Aviv, Amman, Jordan, and Irbil, Iraq, on Tuesday, but had canceled flights to Tehran, Iran, and Beirut up until Thursday. It also said it is not using Iranian airspace currently.” – CNBC
Should the conflict escalate, more disruptions will occur. As most Western nations have avoided flying over Ukraine and Russia, Iran represents a key passageway from Europe to Asia without significant deviation. If a full war were to break out, airlines from Europe and Asia will have to adjust schedules significantly or opt for full cancellations or technical stops to get around the conflict regions.
Conclusion
With tensions ratcheting up in the Middle East, further disruptions will occur. Saudi officials have sought a peace deal with Israel that would normalize relations throughout the region. That deal will get tougher to close as retaliations persist.
What do you think?
Kyle Stewart writes that unconfirmed reports are that 7 Iranian cities were targeted as well as targets in Syria and Iraq. The BBC and CNN reports, unless I am mistaken, only targets near Isfahan. Who is correct?
This is tit or tat.
Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria. Bombing embassies is normally bad. However, Israel’s excuse is probably that no Iranian commanders are safe anywhere. One could also say that Iran doesn’t respect embassies as evidenced by the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran and taking of US diplomatic personnel as hostages.
Iran could be seen as either attacking Israel or retaliating for the bombing of its embassy.
Israel, since it wants to retaliate, has chosen targets wisely. It seems that it really wants tit for tat. It probably doesn’t want an all out war. However, it wants to send a message. Not just a retaliation message but a message that it can destroy Iranian nuclear facilities, a lot of them around Isfahan. So Israel sent planes to bomb Isfahan military bases but not nuclear facilities just to show that it can.
This time around, Israel doesn’t want to do a Gaza in Iran, i.e. collective punishment, massive destruction, like in Gaza.
@Derek – Just a note on the first line. I cited about half a dozen sources throughout the piece, but the source that stated “seven sites” has since updated the article and also removed Syrian and Iraqi targets from the same piece. I have reflected this in the notes, but to be clear, it’s an evolving situation and not everything is known. I included it initially with “unconfirmed” as that’s how the source noted it. It doesn’t appear to have been the case.
Live and Let’s Fly doesn’t have its own spy satellite or spies on the ground so ok.
The US once invaded Iran and left leaflets warning them not to mess with the Olympics so to show that they could invade undetected. Israel probably tried something like that yesterday.
So at his moment Russian Airspace is closed for many airlines. Now with the looming war in the ME when will the Iranian Airspace and as a whole the Persian Gulf Region will be closed for Western Airlines??
Welcome everyone, back in the Cold War era! Now ultra long haul flights will become trendy or the new normality as flights have to divert increasinly to get to their destinations. For example Europe to Australia..Europe to EastAsia/SEA.
Never thought of that!? Everyone is only thinking about Israelis and Iranians as if they are so far away from their usual mundane life.
IRGC and Iranian military targets aren’t completely embedded among the civilian population as Hamas has done in Gaza. There is no “collective punishment,” in Gaza but rather the natural consequences of collateral damage one would expect given the fact that Hamas uses it’s population as human shields and after the gross atrocities on 7/10 the Israelis will no longer allow them them get away with it.
That’s some serious hasbara propaganda right there.
Iran is a land of Morons .
There are actually quite a lot of educated people in Iran (and for sure Iranians that fled Iran already). The issue is the ayattolah regime and its group of supporters, which is estimated to be around 30% of the population. And, of course, amongst this group of Shia Islamist flat-earthers, you’ll find also some educated, smart people who are just indoctrinated to believe all the nonsense this regime is about.
@Dude26 … +1 . Having been there , I based my opinion only on the thieves I encountered .
Lol ok.
If Iran’s theocracy decides to push it to active war (and, really, what did the Prophet say about the Jews? Oh, yeah, this (in translation): “The believers, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabians all those who believe in God and the Last Day and do good will have their rewards with their Lord. No fear for them, nor will they grieve.” (Quran 5:69)), then planes are definitely going to have to avoid Iranian airspace. Fallout and radiation are things to be avoided.
Netenyahu and his government are the ones who seem to pushing for a regional war.