Air France and the German airline group Lufthansa said on Monday, July 29, they were suspending flights to Beirut after Israel threatened reprisals for a deadly rocket strike launched from Lebanon. Lufthansa services would be halted up to and including August 5 due to "current developments in the Middle East," a group spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Air France and its low-cost subsidiary Transavia France meanwhile said that flights between Paris and Beirut would be suspended on Monday and Tuesday because of the "security situation" in Lebanon.

On Sunday, Israel said it would retaliate after rocket fire launched from neighbouring Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Israel blamed Lebanon's Hezbollah movement but the Iran-backed group said it had "no connection" to the strike.

Fears conflict could spread to Lebanon

The incident heightened fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could spread north to Lebanon. Other airlines had already cancelled or rescheduled flights in the wake of the attack.

A Greek airport source told AFP that an Aegean flight to Beirut had been cancelled on Sunday night. Lebanon's Middle East Airlines said in a statement that it had rescheduled a number of flights on Sunday and Monday, citing "technical reasons related to the distribution of (aircraft) insurance risks."

Israeli forces and Hezbollah have traded cross-border fire since early October, following the attack by the Lebanese group's ally Hamas on southern Israel on October 7 which sparked the war in Gaza.

The Lufthansa group, which includes SWISS and Austrian Airlines, has repeatedly paused travel to the region since the conflict began.