Israel’s Transportation Ministry ordered new restrictions on flights to and from Ben Gurion International Airport following a weekend of particularly harrowing Iranian missile attacks.
From 1700 today, the number of passengers permitted on departing flights will drop to 50 from the current limit of 120 and the number of takeoffs and landings will be restricted to one per hour.
Israel’s highly effective air defenses failed to prevent two Iranian missiles from striking residential neighborhoods in the southern cities of Dimona and Arad Saturday night, injuring some 175 people, at least 10 of them seriously.
Casualties would have been higher if most residents had not been in bomb shelters.
The missiles impacted three hours apart and probably targeted Israel’s main nuclear facility, which is located in the area.
Virtually all the missiles Iran has fired at Israel since the war began on 28 February have been intercepted but 15 people have been killed.
A total of 4,564 people have been taken to Israeli hospitals in connection with missile attacks, although many of them suffered from anxiety, falls and other issues indirectly caused by Iranian munitions.
Fifteen people were injured yesterday, one of them seriously, by cluster munitions from an Iranian missile that fell over a wide area of Tel Aviv and nearby communities.
Internationally outlawed cluster munitions repeatedly have rained on Israel.
Fragments from missile interceptions also have caused injuries and damage.
Iran is firing far fewer missiles at Israel than it did in the initial days of the war but there is no end in sight to such attacks.
While Israel is not about to run out of interceptors, there may be something to media reports that defense officials have begun to ration them.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah continues to fire rockets and drones at northern Israel and a limited number of missiles at central Israel, inflicting damage and occasional casualties.
Hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah, an Iranian proxy, resumed on 2 March.
Personnel who must be in Israel should curtail circulation sharply, familiarize themselves with the nearest bomb shelters, and heed air attack alerts and directions of authorities without exception. Personnel should keep well clear of the Lebanese border.
Israel has been bombing Hizbollah targets in heavily Shia southern and eastern Lebanon intensely while escalating ground operations in the south.
Israel continues to fiercely bomb the predominantly Shia southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hizbollah has its headquarters.
There have been multiple precision Israeli airstrikes in religiously mixed central Beirut, Lebanon’s governmental and business hub, causing deaths and significant damage.
Israeli bombing has killed over 1,000 Lebanese and wounded over 2,200, with over 1 million displaced.
Personnel in Lebanon should remain in Christian suburbs north of Beirut and even there should curtail circulation. They should avoid central Beirut entirely.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines has operated some flights to and from Beirut’s international airport, which is situated in the Hizbollah-dominated southern suburbs of the city. But the airport and roads to it cannot be considered safe given heavy Israeli airstrikes in the immediate vicinity.
In past wars, foreigners evacuated Lebanon by boat from the Christian suburbs north of Beirut, an option feasible only if a place on a professionally operated boat and secure transportation to water’s edge is pre-arranged.
The Gulf Arab countries continue to come under Iranian missile and drone attack.
The rate of fire is much lower than in the first days of the war and air defenses largely have proven effective, keeping casualties relatively low.
Public services have not collapsed in the Gulf Arab countries and commercial activity has resumed at a lower tempo.
Limited flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi resumed on 3 March.
Flights from Qatar resumed on a limited basis on Wednesday.
Flights remain suspended in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Some commercial flights are operating from Saudi Arabia and Oman.
In the view of this service, the peril facing the Gulf Arab countries in coming days and weeks should not be underestimated.
The Gulf Arab countries should be visited only on essential business and those on the ground should consider departing by their own means. With help from colleagues outside the region, those wishing to leave continually should check with airlines while monitoring embassy messages about possible repatriation opportunities.
No attempts should be made to travel to airports to wait for flights to become available.
Personnel in the Gulf Arab countries should curtail circulation to the utmost, remaining indoors to the extent possible. When they must go out, they should steer well clear of US diplomatic facilities, oil and gas infrastructure, and military bases – all of which are prime Iranian missile and drone targets. They should monitor the advice of local authorities and their embassies. High-rises are not ideal places to be, and those stuck in a multi-story hotel or apartment building should keep in mind that underground parking garages are relatively secure from drone attack but not immune and that stairways rather than elevators should be used in the event of drone attack or fire. During air attack alerts, windows should be given wide berth. Stocking up on food and other essentials is recommended in the smaller Gulf Arab countries.
Jordan reopened its airspace to commercial flights on 3 March although with the war unfolding daily in the skies above the country it is unclear how many flights there will be.
Personnel in Jordan, where US military bases have been targeted by Iranian missiles and Iranian missiles and drones aimed at Israel constantly fly overhead, should shelter in place. The country should not be visited and those on the ground should depart by their own means.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has seeded the Gulf monarchies and other Arab countries with sleeper operatives.
This service long assessed that it probably would not target American civilians in terrorist attacks. But nothing can be taken for granted at present given that the Iranian regime is in an existential war against the US and Israel.
The longer the war goes on the greater the prospect that the IRGC will succeed in orchestrating terrorism in the region.
