in-cyprus 3 August 2024 - by Stelios Marathovouniotis
The Cypriot government on Friday rejected rumours circulating online about an alleged closure of the country’s airspace.
Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis issued a statement refuting these claims, asserting that they are unfounded. He emphasised that flights to and from Cyprus continue to operate as normal.
“Regarding rumours and posts circulating on the internet about an alleged suspension of air traffic in Cyprus’ airspace, the Cypriot Government clarifies that these do not correspond to reality and that flights to and from Cyprus are taking place as normal,” he said in a post on X.
Letymbiotis’s comment came in response to online speculation that Cyprus, Jordan and Lebanon would close their airspace in anticipation of an attack against Israel, in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh, and the killing of Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in an air strike earlier this week.
These hits came in response to an attack by Hezbollah on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on the weekend which killed 12 children.
Iran-backed Hezbollah which is based in Lebanon and Israel have been involved in a direct and constant confrontation since October 8, 2023, along the Israel–Lebanon border, in Syria and the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
More than 1,000 military personnel and civilians have died as a result of the battles, while around 200,000 have been displaced, on both sides.
Although the conflict between Israel and Iran has been fought mainly via proxies, on April 1, 2024, Israel bombed an Iranian consulate complex in Damascus, Syria, killing multiple senior Iranian officials.
Iran responded by seizing the Israeli-linked ship MSC Aries and launched strikes inside Israel on April 13. Israel then carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran and Syria on April 19.
The killings of Haniyeh, inside Iran and Shukr in Beirut are seen as a provocation that could lead to a widening of the war.
However, experts have said that in the case Iran attacks Israel directly again, it would likely choose to do so using smaller-scale, precision strikes as on April 13.
