
Airlines suspend flights after Israel strikes Iran
AEGEAN AIRLINES AGNr.AT
Greece's Aegean Airlines has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including the early morning flight on July 12, as well as all flights to and from Beirut, Amman, and Erbil through the morning arrivals of June 28.
AIRBALTIC
Latvia's airBaltic said all flights to and from Tel Aviv until June 23 had been cancelled.
AEROFLOT AFLT.MM
Russia's Aeroflot said it had cancelled flights between Moscow and Tehran, and made changes to other routes in the Middle East after Israeli strikes on Iran.
AIR FRANCE-KLM AIRF.PA
Air France said it had suspended its flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice.
KLM has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until at least July 1, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
AIR INDIA
Air India said multiple flights were either being diverted or returning to their origin.
AJET
Turkish Airlines THYAO.IS subsidiary AJet has cancelled flights to Iran, Iraq and Jordan until Monday morning, an AJet source said.
The source said that AJet would operate flights to Lebanon only during daylight hours. It plans to operate flights to elsewhere in the Middle East including flying over Iraq without using the affected airspace, the source added.
ARKIA
The Israeli airline said that due to the closure of Israeli airspace, it was cancelling all its flights until June 14.
DELTA AIR LINES DAL.N
Travel to, from, or through Tel Aviv may be impacted between June 12-June 30, the U.S. carrier said on its website.
EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES ELAL.TA
El Al Israel Airlines said that it had suspended all its flights to and from Israel for the time being. Sundor flights are also suspended, the airline added.
ETIHAD AIRWAYS
Etihad Airways said it had cancelled two flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv and delayed the departure of four others.
EMIRATES
Emirates said it had cancelled flights to and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran until June 15.
FLYDUBAI
Flydubai said it had suspended flights to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Iran and Israel.
ISRAIR
The Israeli airline said that due to the closure of Israeli airspace it was cancelling all its flights from and to Israel until June 15.
ITA AIRWAYS
The Italian Airline said it would extend the suspension of Tel Aviv flights until July 31.
LUFTHANSA GROUP LHAG.DE
Lufthansa said it had suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran until July 31 and to and from Amman, Erbil and Beirut until June 20. The German airline added that it would also avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Israeli airspace for now.
PEGASUS PGSUS.IS
The Turkish airline said it had cancelled flights to Iran until June 19 and flights to Iraq and Jordan until June 16. The company said it would operate flights to Lebanon only during daylight hours.
QATAR AIRWAYS
Qatar Airways said it had temporarily cancelled flights to and from Iraq and Iran. Flights to Damascus Airport, in Syria, will be cancelled until the end of June 14.
RYANAIR RYA.I
Ryanair said that it had cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until August 31.
TAROM
Romania's flag carrier said it had suspended all commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut and Amman until Monday, June 16.
TURKISH AIRLINES THYAO.IS
Turkish Airlines and other Turkish operators have cancelled flights to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Jordan until June 16, Turkey's transport minister said.
WIZZ AIR WIZZ.L
Wizz Air decided on Friday to suspend its operations to Tel Aviv and reroute all of its flights, where possible, that were due to overfly the affected airspaces for the next 72 hours.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


ARN News Center
an hour ago
- ARN News Center
OPEC+ speeds up oil output hikes, adds 548,000 bpd in August
OPEC+ agreed on Saturday to raise production by 548,000 barrels per day in August, further accelerating output increases at its first meeting since oil prices jumped - and then retreated - following Israeli and US attacks on Iran. The group, which pumps about half of the world's oil, has been curtailing production since 2022 to support the market. But it has reversed course this year to regain market share and as US President Donald Trump demanded the group pump more to help keep gasoline prices lower. The production boost will come from eight members of the group - UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Algeria. The eight started to unwind their most recent layer of cuts of 2.2 million bpd in April. The August increase represents a jump from monthly increases of 411,000 bpd OPEC+ had approved for May, June and July, and 138,000 bpd in April. OPEC+ cited a steady global economic outlook and healthy market fundamentals, including low oil inventories, as reasons for releasing more oil. The acceleration came after some OPEC+ members, such as Kazakhstan and Iraq, produced above their targets, angering other members that were sticking to cuts, sources have said. Kazakh output returned to growth last month and matched an all-time high. OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, wants to expand market share amid growing supplies from rival producers like the United States, sources have said. With the August increase, OPEC+ will have released 1.918 million bpd since April, which leaves just 280,000 bpd to be released from the 2.2 million bpd cut. On top of that, OPEC+ allowed the UAE to increase output by 300,000 bpd. The group still has in place other layers of cuts amounting to 3.66 million bpd. The group of eight OPEC+ members will next meet on August 3.


Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
US consultancy firm involved in GHF aid scheme modelled plans to 'relocate' Palestinians
A consulting firm involved in the scandal-plagued Gaza Humanitarian Foundation entered into a multimillion-dollar contract to develop the initiative and modelled a plan to "relocate" Palestinians from Gaza as part of its work, a Financial Times investigation has revealed. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) helped design and run the US and Israeli-backed scheme which aimed to supplant United Nations-led aid coordination mechanisms in Gaza. The chaotic roll out of the programme has seen 600 Palestinians killed and another 4,000 wounded by Israeli forces while attempting to access aid. The firm has disavowed its involvement in the project, claiming in a statement in June that it had initially provided "pro bono support" for the project, but two senior partners that led the work "failed to disclose" its full nature and had subsequently carried out "unauthorised work" on the project. It said that the partners have since been fired and an investigation has been launched into the firm's involvement in the scheme. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters But according to sources familiar with the project who spoke to the Financial Times, the BCG were more enmeshed with the scheme than the firm has publicly acknowledged, with the company contracted to perform $4m worth of work over a period of seven months. Over a dozen BCG staff worked directly on the project, dubbed "Aurora", between October and late May. Senior figures at the firm were reported to have discussed the initiative, but the BCG said they were misled about the scope and nature of the work by the partners helming the project. 'My journey to get aid in Gaza was like Squid Game' Read More » "The lead partner was categorically told no, and he violated this directive. We disavow this work," the BCG said. The work included financial modelling for the post-war reconstruction of Gaza, commissioned by Israeli backers, with one scenario envisioning the "voluntary relocation" of Palestinians from the enclave. This would have involved paying out "relocation packages" to 500,000 people worth $9,000 per person to induce people to leave the territory. The model assumed a quarter of Palestinians would opt to leave Gaza, with three-quarters of them unlikely to return. It estimated the cost of forced expulsion of Palestinians to be $23,000 cheaper, per Palestinian, than the costs of providing support to them in Gaza during reconstruction. According to BCG, this side of the operation was conducted without the knowledge of senior management and against their instructions. Involvement in security operations The revelations also raise questions about BCG's involvement in developing the security aspect of the initiative. According to sources familiar with the early stages of BCG's work on the initiative, the firm was initially contracted by Washington-based security contractor Orbis to develop a feasibility study for a new aid operation on behalf of the Tachlith Institute, an Israeli think tank. BCG was chosen for the project because of its connections with Phil Reilly, a 29-year veteran of the CIA who worked at Orbis. He was a senior adviser to BCG's defence practice where the two fired partners, Matt Schlueter and Ryan Ordway, worked. Middle East Eye previously reported that Reilly served as a senior adviser at BCG for eight years, and began discussing Gaza aid with Israeli civilians while still in his advisory role in early 2024. The BCG did not answer MEE's questions regarding its involvement in the security operations to support GHF, what role it had played with the foundation and who had asked the firm to get involved initially. Reilly dropped his advisory role with BCG and went on to found Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), a private military company which became the main security provider for the GHF. According to the report, half a dozen staff shifted to "more detailed business planning" for the SRS and GHF. This work was helmed by the US defence practice, while the initial pro-bono phase was billed to BCG's social impact practice helmed by Rich Hutchinson. Ex-CIA officer running Gaza aid security advised Boston Consulting Group Read More » By January, the BCG was contracted by McNally Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm which owns Orbis, to plan GHF's ground operations from Tel Aviv. The SRS signed an initial contract with the group worth over $1m to cover eight weeks of work to develop SRS's operations in Gaza, with travel approvals given by officials in BGC's risk management operation. The group told the Financial Times that it was "pleased to have supported the establishment of SRS as an important step toward meeting the full scope of the humanitarian need in Gaza". Funding sources for both GHF and SRS remain unclear. Both are registered in US tax havens, with scant details available in public records. A source previously told the Financial Times that the GHF had been pledged $100m from a country they refused to name. Reuters reported on Friday that UBS and Goldman Sachs declined to open bank accounts for the GHF, with the foundation's lack of transparency over its funding cited as being one of the main stumbling blocks in the discussions with the banks. A GHF spokesperson said it has "spoken about initial funding from Europe, but we don't disclose donors for their privacy". GHF's scheme has seen 400 aid distribution points across the enclave replaced by four militarised distribution sites, where millions are forced to risk death in the hope of receiving aid. Israeli troops have admitted to deliberately shooting and killing unarmed Palestinians waiting for aid in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their superiors.


Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
The spy, private equity baron and ghost of a Trump donor: The revolving door behind a Gaza mercenary firm
The US mercenary firm overseeing a controversial Gaza aid programme is the creation of a bespectacled Chicago private equity baron and a CIA spy with old ties to a Donald Trump ally who participated in one of the Middle East's nastiest diplomatic rifts. The story of Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) exemplifies the shadowy revolving door between old spies and Middle Eastern states, one that is increasingly being monetized by American investors flush with cash. The spies running SRS also have old links to an intelligence company owned by a wealthy patron of pro-Israeli groups. The intelligence firm, Circinus, is little known today but is unmistakable among diplomats and officials who remember the feud between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours during the first Trump administration. Since Israel went to war on Gaza, SRS has sent Arabic-speaking mercenaries to oversee aid distributed by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The GHF has come under intense scrutiny by human rights experts and aid groups. Palestinian health officials say hundreds of civilians have been killed trying to obtain food from GHF distribution sites in the last month. The United Nations has called the GHF's hubs "death traps". Last week, 15 human rights and legal organisations said the GHF may be complicit in international crimes. This week, contractors guarding aid sites in Gaza told the BBC and AP on condition of anonymity that the live ammunition was being used on Palestinians seeking food. In response, the GHF said its team was composed of seasoned humanitarian, logistics and security professionals and that people with a "vested interest" were trying to make the aid organisation fail. A spokesperson for SRS told the AP that there hadn't been any serious injuries at their sites. SRS's creation mirrors that of dozens of private military firms that mushroomed after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, when the Middle East was awash with money for mercenaries. There are many layers to this lucrative world. For two decades, former soldiers deployed to war zones like Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan with firms that won big US or foreign government contracts. In some cases, these foot soldiers could earn $1,000 a day during deployments. In the social media age, their jobs are losing some of their shadowiness. SRS went on a LinkedIn recruiting spree earlier this year before deploying to Gaza, MEE revealed. A level up are the former intelligence officers-cum-diplomats turned consultants who run the organisations. They oversee the ground troops and do the wheeling and dealing in Middle East capitals. SRS is run by one with an enviable pedigree: Phil Reilly. Reilly is a former CIA officer who trained Contra fighters in Nicaragua, deployed to Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, and served as the CIA's deputy station chief in Baghdad. He became a household name among Middle Eastern defence chiefs, serving as one of the key officials linking the CIA and the Department of Defence during the early days of the US's drone programme. "The drone programme made Phil a famous guy in the region's right circles," one former CIA official told MEE. Ghosts of Trump's past: Circinus Reilly himself was no stranger to bouncing around defence and intelligence companies hawking their services across the Middle East. He was also bound to be known among allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his previous work as a director at Circinus, sources told MEE. Reilly served on the firm's board. He joined in 2016, shortly after Circinus was acquired by Elliot Broidy, a one-time Trump donor and hawkish Jewish American supporter of Israel, according to public records. During the first Trump administration, Broidy's Circinus was awarded contracts worth more than $200m to do defence work for the United Arab Emirates, according to The New York Times. Broidy's firm was doing work for the tiny Gulf state during a time of unprecedented tensions with neighbouring Qatar. Israeli documents reveal further American interests in firm guarding Gaza aid hubs Read More » In 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced a blockade on Qatar, accusing it of supporting political Islamists who they said were a threat to their rule. The Times reported that Broidy lobbied the Trump administration to take a hard line on Qatar. Broidy later sued the government of Qatar over an alleged hack of his records. Broidy later pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests. He was pardoned by Trump in January 2021. MEE repeatedly attempted to contact Broidy for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Reilly is not the only person in SRS linked to Circinus. MEE revealed last month Israeli filings that reveal SRS is supported by a slew of seasoned US government contractors. Charles Africano, who is listed as an officer in the company, was also listed as a point of contact for Circinus until the page was taken down for maintenance after MEE's story was published last month. Broidy has re-emerged as a vocal supporter of Israel since its war on Gaza began in October 2023. He has rebranded his company, Circinus Worldwide. In an interview published on Medium in March 2025, he said the company was active in providing "services to the US government and in creating open source intelligence centers for US allies in the Middle East". 'Like James Bond' What makes SRS unique is that it includes a new layer to the military contracting world: American private equity firms. Private equity firms proliferated in the era of low interest rates after the 2008 financial crisis. They raise money from wealthy families or institutional investors such as pension funds and purchase private companies with the goal of increasing their value through a combination of debt financing, mergers or cost-cutting. The end goal is to flip the companies at a profit. Private equity firms have invested in everything from HVAC companies to restaurant chains and tech startups. A growing but niche trend is investing in defence companies. That is what McNally Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has been doing for years. Ex-CIA officer running Gaza aid security advised Boston Consulting Group Read More » The firm was founded in 2008 by Ward McNally, the bespectacled and balding descendant of a family of Irish immigrants who made their money picking out far-flung spots on the map, literally. The McNally publishing company began printing railroad guides in the booming late 19th-century American West. By the mid-20th century, it was printing road maps and high school geography books. Over the last 15 years, McNally has parlayed his family's publishing inheritance into a private equity fortune. McNally has acquired stale but sturdy and solidly American companies, such as Jewett Automation, the Richmond, Virginia-based maker of automation systems. But it's the defence and security companies that entice McNally. "Ward inherited a lot of money and likes to do interesting things with it. He just likes this kind of dark arts, intelligence, James Bond stuff. It excites him," a colleague of McNally told MEE. MEE reached out to Ward McNally and McNally Capital for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. 'Replicate' Iraq Since 2021, McNally Capital and Nio Advisors, an Illinois-based investment firm, have acquired at least three government contractors, each of which is focused on national security. In late 2024, McNally invested in Quiet Professionals, a firm specialising in cloud-based, open-source intelligence collection and cybersecurity. It is a lucrative business. The firm recently secured a $64.7m contract with the US Marine Corps. In 2021, McNally acquired Orbis, a firm providing intelligence and national security advisory services. It also taps a burgeoning market in AI analysis, but Orbis also offers advisory and consulting services. It has a history of work in the Middle East. Mike Morrell, a former deputy director of the CIA, is chairman of the board of directors. McNally, according to multiple sources who spoke with MEE, thought that Orbis would be the perfect company to send American mercenaries to the Gaza Strip. It was here that McNally met Reilly, a senior vice president at Orbis. Israel had curtailed the delivery of food, water and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip since it launched its offensive on the enclave after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023. Palestinian man dies of malnutrition due to Israeli siege on Gaza Read More » The New York Times previously revealed that as early as 2023, Israeli officials and business people close to the government had been trying to come up with a plan to tightly control aid distribution in the enclave. One hope was to sideline the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees. "The Israelis especially wanted to replicate what the US did in Iraq post-2003. They thought it was a success because the US did de-Baathification and took control of everything," a source familiar with the early deliberations told MEE. "If you are a former Mossad guy, the old CIA station chief of Baghdad is not hard to find," the former CIA official told MEE. Reilly started working on a study to outsource aid delivery to private companies and foundations while at Orbis in late 2024. McNally got wind of the plan and was all on board. "He said there were gobs of money to be made," the associate of McNally told MEE. But Orbis wanted nothing to do with the project, multiple sources told MEE. In the end, McNally and Reilly created a different company on their own to funnel American mercenaries to the Gaza Strip to guard aid centres. Last month, Reuters cited a McNally spokesperson saying the company helped "support the establishment" of SRS. The State Department has approved $30m in funding for GHF, which reportedly projects that it will have a $150m monthly budget once it is up and running, totalling $1.8bn a year. Meanwhile, Israel's war on Gaza continues. The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks, mainly women and children, has soared above 56,000. Last month, in one day alone, at least 66 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire near US-backed aid distribution points.