Israel Says Airspace Remains Closed for Third Day amid Iran Fighting

Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
TT
20

Israel Says Airspace Remains Closed for Third Day amid Iran Fighting

Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)

Israeli authorities said the country's airspace was closed Sunday for a third consecutive day, after two nights of deadly missile strikes from Iran in response to Israel's military campaign.

"Due to the security situation and in accordance with the instructions of security authorities, Israeli airspace is currently closed to civilian aviation -- no incoming or outgoing flights are operating," said a joint statement from the transport and foreign ministries.

Israeli media reported that thousands of Israeli nationals were stranded abroad since Friday when the Israeli military began striking military and nuclear targets in Iran.

Iran responded firing hundreds of ballistic missiles into Israeli cities, destroying residential buildings and leaving 13 people, including three children, dead.

A statement from the Israel airports authority spokesperson confirmed that Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv would remain closed, saying "a notice regarding its reopening will be given with at least 6 hours' advance warning".

"A decision to resume flights to Israel will only be made once it is deemed safe to do so," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Israel's land border crossings to Jordan and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula remain open.



Russian President Dismisses Transport Minister

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
TT
20

Russian President Dismisses Transport Minister

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Rio via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin fired his transport minister on Monday, according to a presidential decree, removing Roman Starovoit from his post after just over a year in the job.

According to Reuters, no reason was given for Starovoit's unexpected dismissal. He was appointed transport minister in May 2024 after spending almost five years as governor of Russia's western Kursk region.

A few months after vacating that role, Ukrainian troops spilled over the border into Kursk as Kyiv launched its biggest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war in 2022.

Starovoit's predecessor as transport minister, Vitaly Savelyev, became a deputy prime minister. According to the Vedomosti daily newspaper, Starovoit's replacement could be his deputy minister Andrei Nikitin, who was formerly governor of the Novgorod Region.

Prior to serving as a regional governor, Starovoit had worked in the transport sector, leading Russia's federal roads agency Rosavtodor for six years.