Middle East crisis prompts FCDO winter sun alerts and EU airspace warning
James ChappleThe escalating conflict in the Middle East has prompted the Foreign Office to issue new travel advice for a number of popular winter sun destinations across the region and in neighbouring North Africa, while the EU has advised airlines against operating in Israeli and Lebanese airspace.
New advice has been published for Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia, after Israel stretched its offensive further into Lebanon at the weekend and also struck targets in Yemen.
British nationals were last week advised to leave Lebanon immediately, with the FCDO already advising against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and for anyone there to leave.
"Ongoing hostilities between Israel and Lebanon could escalate quickly and pose risks for the wider region," read the new FCO advice, which was updated late on Saturday night (28 September) and again during the early hours of Sunday (29 September). "Monitor this travel advice and other media as the situation is changing fast."
The FCDO also advised anyone in the region, or heading to the region, to follow it on social media for its latest updates and to sign up for email notifications.
Meanwhile, the European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) have issued two conflict zone information bulletins (CZIBs) covering Israeli and Lebanese airspace – essentially advising carriers to avoid the region.
The EU said it was "closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East and its impact on civil aviation following the recent spike in military exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah".
"An overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation has been noted, impacting the safety of airspace over Israel and Lebanon," read the EU-Easa bulletin.
"In that context, the European Commission and Easa have decided to issue CZIBs recommending not to operate within the airspaces of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels. The recommendation is valid until 31 October 2024 and can be reviewed earlier and adapted or withdrawn subject to the revised assessment.
"Easa will continue to closely monitor the situation, with a view to assess[ing] whether there is an increase or decrease of risks for EU aircraft operators as a result of the evolution of the threat."
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