EASA advises airlines to avoid Saudi Arabian airspace after Houthi attacks

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a new warning to airlines on Wednesday, advising them to avoid Saudi Arabian airspace, as Reuters reports. The bulletin, published on the agency’s website, follows a rise in attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis against Saudi interests.

The latest warning on Saudi Arabia does not mention Wednesday’s incident with the diverted Flydubai aircraft, but EASA said it would continue to monitor the situation to assess whether the risk to EU airlines in the country is rising or falling.

In a separate bulletin, EASA recommended that flights not operate at all in Jordanian airspace at any altitude, tightening its previous advice of caution only. The agency also extended until November 16 its warning for airlines to avoid the airspace over Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, as well as the territorial waters of the Gulf of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, revising previous bulletins that had advised avoiding all of those countries’ airspace.

The seven-month Middle East conflict, triggered by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, has seen Tehran hit U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf with drones and missiles, while Yemen’s Houthis have targeted Saudi interests. Airstrikes have become one of the most visible fronts of the economic and diplomatic war being fought over the Strait of Hormuz.