Airlines Cancel Flights after US, Israel Strikes on Iran

28 February 2026, Iran, Tehran: Smoke billows following an explosion in Tehran. Photo: Tasnim News Agency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
28 February 2026, Iran, Tehran: Smoke billows following an explosion in Tehran. Photo: Tasnim News Agency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT

Airlines Cancel Flights after US, Israel Strikes on Iran

28 February 2026, Iran, Tehran: Smoke billows following an explosion in Tehran. Photo: Tasnim News Agency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
28 February 2026, Iran, Tehran: Smoke billows following an explosion in Tehran. Photo: Tasnim News Agency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Global airlines cancelled flights across the Middle East on Saturday after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, plunging the region into a new conflict, Reuters reported.

Airspace over Iran and Iraq was empty on Saturday morning, maps by flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed.

Below is the latest on flights listed by airline in alphabetical order:

AIR FRANCE KLM Air France cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel and Beirut in Lebanon for Saturday. KLM brought forward the suspension of its Amsterdam–Tel Aviv service, cancelling the flight scheduled for Saturday.

The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM had announced on Wednesday that flights would be halted from Sunday, but has now advanced that date.

Only one flight to Tel Aviv had ⁠been scheduled for ⁠Saturday.

IBERIA EXPRESS The Spanish airline owned by Iberia Group cancelled a flight to Tel Aviv scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. local time.

INDIGO The airline said it was monitoring regional updates.

JAPAN AIRLINES Japan Airlines cancelled a flight on Saturday from Tokyo Haneda to Doha as well as a return flight on March 1, Nikkei said.

LOT POLISH AIRLINES LOT Polish Airlines returned its flight LO121 from Warsaw to Dubai ⁠to Warsaw.

LUFTHANSA The German airline suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel, Beirut in Lebanon, and Oman until March 7 and flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday. They also said they would not fly through Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi and Iranian airspace until March 7.

NORWEGIAN AIR The Nordic airline suspended all flights to and from Dubai on Saturday, a company spokesperson said. The carrier did not suspend flights to Tel Aviv in Israel or Beirut in Lebanon as these destinations are only active in summer, he added.

SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES The airline told Reuters it had suspended its flight to Tel Aviv from ⁠Copenhagen on Saturday. ⁠No decision had been made regarding flights on later dates.

TURKISH AIRLINES The airline cancelled flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Saturday and flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan until March 2.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC Virgin Atlantic said it will temporarily avoid Iraqi airspace, resulting in some pre-planned rerouting of its flights and cancelled its VS400 service from London Heathrow to Dubai on Saturday.

QATAR AIRWAYS The airline said it has temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha due to the closure of Qatari airspace.

WIZZ AIR The airline halted flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman with immediate effect until March 7.

It added that operational decisions would continue to be reviewed, and the flight schedule could be adjusted as the situation evolves.



Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World's Most Neglected Crises

Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
TT

Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World's Most Neglected Crises

Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Sudanese refugees from Al-Fashir, displaced by ongoing conflict in Sudan, gather at sunset at the Tine transit camp in eastern Chad, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia top the list of the world's most neglected displacement crises, the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group said on Thursday.

Sudan, which since 2023 has been ravaged by a bloody conflict between two rival generals competing for power, has more than nine million internally displaced people, the prominent aid organization said in a statement.

A further four million Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries and nearly 19.5 million people there are also suffering from hunger, the NRC said.

"It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to the crises in Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed," NRC chief Jan Egeland said.

"Countries have become much more inward-looking, more nationalist.

Rearmament is now an absolute priority because we have to ensure our own security in Europe. There is Putin threatening us, and so on," Egeland said in comments to the NRK broadcaster.

"But people then forget that there will be pandemics, migratory movements, and enormous loss of human life if we don't invest in hope on other continents."

"Africa is just across the Mediterranean, where we go on holiday. And if the continent collapses, we will also suffer the consequences."

Relatives mourn during the funeral of a person who died of Ebola in Bunia, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 03 June 2026. EPA/DIEUDONNE DIROLE

The Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola epidemic has added turmoil to the east of the country ravaged by decades of conflict, appears on NRC's list for the 10th year in a row.

In 2025, only 27.4 percent of the funding needed for DR Congo has been secured, leaving more than 21 million people in need, according to the NRC.

"This is a testament to the world's failure to respond to crises that are not regarded as strategically important for rich countries," Egeland said in the NRC statement.

"Millions of people are being abandoned because we have chosen not to act, not because we cannot."

The NGO's list is based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media coverage, and lack of political will within the international community.

Several African countries -- Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mali and Nigeria -- have featured on NRC's list six or more times, pointing to "a systemic pattern of deliberate neglect", NRC said.

The 10 most neglected crises for 2025 are Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique, spanning three continents and tens of millions of people.


Gunmen Kidnap 7 Students from School in Northwestern Nigeria

Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
TT

Gunmen Kidnap 7 Students from School in Northwestern Nigeria

Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo
Nigerian police personnel restrict protesters from convening for the sixth day of anti-government demonstrations against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 6, 2024. REUTERS/ Francis Kokoroko/File Photo

Gunmen raided an off-campus residence in northwest Nigeria and kidnapped seven students, police said.

The attack occurred early Wednesday in the Kaura Namoda area of conflict-battered Zamfara state, police spokesman Yazid Abubakar said in a statement. One of the students escaped and was in custody, The Associated Press said.

The police spokesman said it wasn't clear where the students were taken but efforts were underway to rescue the remaining six.

Zamfara has been a hotspot for armed gangs that carry out kidnappings for ransom, with abductions of students increasing in recent years across the country.

A tally by local news outlet Premium Times found that at least 1,900 students have been kidnapped from 20 schools since the 2014 mass abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.


Iran's Khamenei Says US, Israel Aim to Sow 'Division' after War Defeat

An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Iran's Khamenei Says US, Israel Aim to Sow 'Division' after War Defeat

An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An Iranian man walks past a billboard carrying a picture of Iran' supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei erected along a street in Tehran on May 28, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Iran's supreme leader on Thursday accused the US and Israel of trying to sow "division" among Iranians after suffering a "decisive blow" during the Middle East war.

In a written message, Mojtaba Khamenei said "the malicious enemy" was seeking to "plant the seeds of doubt, despair, fear, mistrust and division" among the public, reported AFP.

"In confronting these ill intentions, everyone must, through steadfastness, insight, preserving unity and cohesion... neutralize their sinister plot," his message said.