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Air travel disrupted following Iranian retaliatory attack against Israel: Several domestic airlines — including Emirates, Etihad, and flydubai — canceled some flights and rerouted others after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel on Saturday, leading Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon to temporarily close their airspaces.
WHAT HAPPENED- Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps launched dozens of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday, Reuters reported, citing Israel’s military as saying. The attacks — which comes after Iran vowed to retaliate for an Israeli attack on 1 April on the Iranian embassy in Damascus that killed 16 members of the Revolutionary Guards — marks a significant escalation between the regional enemies. Some 99% of the drones were intercepted, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari told the Financial Times yesterday, with the UK and US also intervening to intercept some of the drones, the newspaper reports.
Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq closed their airspaces as a temporary precautionary measure after Iran launched the drones, Bloomberg reports. Lebanon and Iraq both reopened their airspaces on Sunday morning. Amman continued its closure for several hours, but also followed suit yesterday, Reuters reports. Israel shut its airspace for both domestic and international routes on Saturday before reopening them yesterday morning. Flights will remain canceled at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport until 6 am, Iranian news agency IRNA reports.
Which airlines were affected: Etihad Airways canceled flights to Tel Aviv and Amman yesterday and rerouted others to and from Europe and North America, an airline representative told the National. Emirates also canceled some flights and temporarily rerouted others, but resumed operations yesterday. “With the re-opening of these airspaces, we are resuming our scheduled operations to/from Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq from the afternoon of April 14,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.
There was a naval escalation, too: Prior to the drones, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized an Israeli-linked MSC container vessel, MSC Aries, in the Strait of Hormuz — around 50 nautical miles north of Fujairah — on Saturday, Asharq Business reported on Saturday. The vessel was operating a service from UAE’s Khalifa port to Nhava Sheva in Mumbai, the Financial Times reports.
UAE reacts: The UAE called for “restraint” and “to avoid exacerbating tensions and instability in the region,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement yesterday. The ministry urged reaching a resolution through diplomatic channels and “adhering to the rule of law.
Regional sources speaking to Reuters see mediators in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi being central to a potential detente in the region, as Gulf states look to prevent a full-blown war between Iran and Israel. A war would impact Gulf states who share air space with Iran and host several US military bases.
A spillover that everyone is trying to avoid: “Nobody wants an escalation. Everybody wants to contain the situation,” a Gulf source with knowledge of his government’s thinking said. “The pressure is not on Iran alone. The pressure is now on Israel not to retaliate,” the source said, adding that a response by Israel on vital Iranian sites “will affect all the region.”
FACT CHECK- The UAE has not suspended diplomatic ties with Israel, diplomatic sources from the two countries said, debunking social media claims, according to Reuters. The unverified reports of suspended ties had emerged after Israel killed seven volunteers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen — the UAE’s partner in the Amalthea humanitarian initiative in Gaza — at the beginning of the month. The UAE condemned the attack at the time.
President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamed Al Thani and Jordan’s King Abdullah to discuss the situation in Gaza as well as boosting diplomatic ties, Wam reported separately (here and here).
ALSO-The UAE pledged more aid for Gaza: President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledged USD 15 mn to Cyprus’ Amalthea Fund, which aims to support the UAE-funded maritime corridor initiative to deliver aid to Gaza through Cyprus, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. Two aid cargo arranged by the UAE have set sail from Cyprus’ Larnaca port to Gaza through the new UAE-funded maritime corridors delivering aid to Gaza, with the first ship carrying 200 tonnes of food and supplies. The UAE has since paused aid shipments to Gaza via its maritime corridor from Cyprus following an Israeli strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers.
