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Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon Reopen Airspace after Iran Attacks

A Royal Jordanian Airlines Embraer ERJ-195AR plane waits to take off on the runway at Cairo Airport, Egypt July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
A Royal Jordanian Airlines Embraer ERJ-195AR plane waits to take off on the runway at Cairo Airport, Egypt July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon Reopen Airspace after Iran Attacks

A Royal Jordanian Airlines Embraer ERJ-195AR plane waits to take off on the runway at Cairo Airport, Egypt July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
A Royal Jordanian Airlines Embraer ERJ-195AR plane waits to take off on the runway at Cairo Airport, Egypt July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon have reopened their airspace on Sunday after closing it late on Saturday as Iran launched drone and missile attacks against Israel, the three countries said on Sunday.
Jordan's state TV said the country had resumed air traffic operations, citing aviation authorities. The opening of its airspace came more than three hours earlier than scheduled.
Iraq's aviation authority said security risks had now been overcome.
Lebanon said its airport will resume its activities after the overnight closure, state TV reported.
Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel late on Saturday - its first direct attack on Israeli territory in a retaliatory strike that raises the threat of wider regional conflict.
Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel, had readied air defenses to intercept any drones or missiles that violated its territory, two regional security sources said.
US and British warplanes were involved in shooting down some Israel-bound drones over the Iraq-Syria border area, Israel's Channel 12 reported.

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Arab World

Israeli Officials Call for West Bank to be Treated Same as Gaza

The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)
The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)
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Israeli Officials Call for West Bank to be Treated Same as Gaza

The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)
The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)

Israeli officials have warned of changing the security situation in the West Bank, after gunmen opened fire on a bus and surrounding vehicles in the Palestinian village of Funduq, leaving several casualties.

“Anyone who follows Hamas’s path in Gaza and enables or sponsors murder and harm against Jews will pay a heavy price,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said, reacting to the attack.

On Monday, Palestinian gunmen killed three Israelis and injured several others in the shooting attack on a car and bus near the settlement of Kedumim, a major road used daily by thousands of Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel's national ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) said two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s were pronounced dead at the scene, while eight passengers were wounded including a 63-year-old male bus driver who is in serious condition.

Later, the police identified the man as an off-duty Israeli police officer, Master Sgt. Elad Yaakov Winkelstein.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to arrest the attackers and hold them accountable.

“We will find the abhorrent murderers and settle scores with them and with all those who aided them,” he said in a statement.

But Israeli far-right officials called for an all-out war in the West Bank against the Palestinians.

Israel's finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the settlement where the attack took place, said “Funduk, Nablus and Jenin should look like Jabaliya, so that Kfar Saba does not, God forbid, become Gaza.”

“I demand that the prime minister urgently convene the Cabinet today for a discussion on changing the strategy and for a real elimination of terror in Judea and Samaria,” he added.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for an end to cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

He said checkpoints must be placed and roads must be closed “(because) the settlers’ right to life outweighs PA residents’ freedom of movement.”

The minister added that Israel should stop believing it has a partner in the PA.

Settlement officials in the West Bank expressed similar statements, clearly asking that the war be moved to the West Bank where the Israeli army should occupy Palestinian cities.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said in a statement after the attack, “We ask you to act now and to start the war against terrorists. We want security now.”

The operation came as a surprise to Israel as it was not preceded by any security alerts.

Israeli media said army officers had left their military checkpoint only half an hour before the operation took place.

The Israelis believe that “after Iran's failure to tighten the noose on Israel through Hezbollah, Hamas and the Assad regime in Syria, Iran is trying to establish cells inside Israeli-controlled territory,” according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

Hamas, Jihad Praise Attack

No party has claimed responsibility for the attack. But Hamas and the Islamic Jihad quickly praised the operation.

The Movement described it as a “heroic response against the occupation's continued crimes (including) the war of genocide in Gaza.”

Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a post on Telegram that “Israel will never enjoy security” unless the Palestinian people also have security.