Without warning–or closing its airspace ahead of the attack–Iran launched a barrage of missiles toward Israel on Tuesday. Video has emerged of the attack from the cockpit of a British Airways flight. The more concerning story, however, is that the plane was there in the first place.
Iranian Missle Attack Against Israel Captured From Cockpit Of British Airways Flight
Video onboard a British Airways flight from London Heathrow (LHR) to Dubai (DXB) shows missiles launched from Iran headed toward Israel. Iran’s response to Israel’s pummeling of Lebanon was expected, but the time, place, and manner of the retaliation was not known before the attack.
https://twitter.com/IntercityFC/status/1841250160443011506
Thankfully, there was no impact with any commercial jets, but there were many commercial jets in the area when the attacks began. Air Traffic Control was not made aware of the attacks even once they began and scrambled to redirect air traffic away from the corridor between Iran and Israel, which also covered Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
Once the attacks began, about 80 flights, operated by not only BA, but Emirates, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and others bound for major Middle East hubs such as Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, were diverted to other cities or turned around and returned to Europe.
It did not take long for the airspace to clear:
With Israel promising a response–also at the time of its choosing–European carriers are pulling out of the region, at least on a temporary basis.
Meanwhile, the Lufthansa Group (which includes Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, and SWISS) suspended all flights to Beirut (BEY) until November 30, flights to Tel Aviv (TLV) until October 31, and flights to Tehran (IKA) until October 14. KLM has also suspended flights to Tel Aviv through the end of 2024.
I’ll save my opinions on the conflict for another day, but we should all be very thankful that no civilian aircraft was hit by any Iranian rockets. As the region teeters on a further escalation of war, downing civilian aircraft is a needless way to expand the conflict.
top image: @IntercityFC / X
This is the inevitable consequence of Is**eli aggression. I loathe the Islamic regime in Iran, which has robbed its people of dignity for 45 years, but the regime has shown tremendous restraint against the Zionists.
Maybe it’s time for Israel to use US bunker-busting bombs to set the Iranian nuclear program back a decade and remind it that it is messing with the wrong nation. May the Ayatollah be held accountable for all the harm he has caused to the world and most notably, to the Iranian people. I’d love to see Iranians rise up like they did in 1979, only this behead him and every member of the Supreme Council.
Don’t forget to that the CIA for setting in motion the chain of events that led to the Islamic Republics existence. I’m referring to thei CIA led coup against Mossadegh, in case it wasn’t obvious
Time to level Kharq Island .