Yesterday, Russia advised its citizens not to travel to the Middle East, and German airline Lufthansa extended the suspension of its flights to Tehran due to the security situation following Iran’s threat to retaliate against Israel for an attack in Syria.
Iran has vowed revenge for an April 1st airstrike on its embassy in Damascus that killed a senior Iranian general and six other Iranian military officers. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
As reported by Reuters, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told citizens that they should refrain from traveling to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
“We strongly recommend Russian citizens to refrain from traveling to the region, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, except in cases of extreme necessity,” the statement said.
“The tense situation in the Middle East region remains,” said the foreign ministry, which first issued such travel advice in October when it urged Russians not to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories following the Hamas attack.
Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it had suspended flights to Tehran due to the situation in the Middle East. On Thursday, the airline said this had been extended until possibly April 13th.
A spokesman said Lufthansa decided not to operate a flight from Frankfurt to Tehran last weekend to avoid the crew disembarking to spend the night in the Iranian capital, according to Reuters.
Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian Airlines are the only two Western airlines flying to Tehran, serving mainly Turkish and Middle Eastern airlines, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
