An investigation was opened into the flight of a French plane over Iraq during the Iranian missile attack Miscellaneous

Air France announced the opening of an investigation into the flight of one of its planes over Iraq during the Iranian missile attack on Israel in early October.

The plane, which was heading from Paris to Dubai, coincided with the flight over Iraqi airspace when Iran fired about 200 missiles towards Israel in response to the latter’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other leaders in Lebanon.

According to the company's statement, the plane left Iraqi airspace shortly before its official closure, and added that it took the decision to suspend flights over Iraq immediately upon receiving information about the attack, without waiting for official instructions from the Iraqi authorities.

Air France said – in a statement – that the flight was flying over Iraq when the Iranian attack began at approximately 4:45 p.m. UTC (11:45 a.m. ET), and left Iraqi airspace “shortly before” 5 p.m. UTC (12 noon ET).

She noted that the Iraqi authorities did not officially close the airspace until 5:56 p.m. UTC (12:56 p.m. Eastern time).

Air France added, “Thanks to the information we collected, we were able to identify an upcoming attack on Israel by Iran, including the launch of ballistic missiles.”

Escalating conflict

This incident comes at a time when the conflict is escalating in the Middle East, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of falling “into the abyss of a long war” as his country escalates its attacks on Hezbollah.

The Israeli government is also considering how to respond to the strike launched by Iran on October 1, after pledging that Tehran “will pay the price.”

It is noteworthy that Israel has at the same time been waging a war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has left more than 134,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.