BERLIN — Several international airlines diverted some of their planes Wednesday amid concerns about potential U.S. strikes on targets in Syria. In a rare move, Europe's air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, had issued a rapid alert notification Tuesday afternoon, warning that missiles may pose a threat over the next three days.
An airstrike by the United States could temporarily disrupt radio navigation systems typically used to determine locations, Eurocontrol warned.
“Due to the possible launch of airstrikes into Syria with air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean/Nicosia FIR area,” the alert read, referring to an abbreviation for Flight Information Region (FIR) that is used to describe certain parts of an airspace.
The likelihood of a U.S. strike on Syrian targets appeared to heighten Wednesday morning, after President Trump warned in a tweet that missiles “will be coming.” The strike would be in response to a reported chemical attack in the town of Douma that killed at least 43 people, including young children, and that the West has blamed on the Syrian regime.
[ Trump says missiles ‘will be coming’ to Syria, taunts Russia for vowing to block them ]
“Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ ” the president wrote on Twitter, referring to Russia's threats to shoot down any such missiles and Moscow's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump discussed a response to the Douma attack during a phone call Sunday but let pass a preliminary deadline to act.
Air France, Middle East Airlines and low-cost carrier easyJet changed some of their flight routes in response to the Eurocontrol alert, according to Reuters. Other carriers, however, told the news agency that they were still monitoring developments or had decided against changes.
Most airlines have long avoided Syrian airspace after warnings by the United States and several European governments. On their website, experts with the air traffic monitoring service Flightradar24 said, “Civilian overflight of the Damascus FIR is already severely limited due to the ongoing conflict.”
[ There’s no victory for Trump in Syria, but he could court disaster ]
“Commercial flights avoid the north and northeast areas of Syria, while transiting the southern portion of the FIR. Flights operating in the eastern portion of the Nicosia FIR avoid transiting the area near Syrian airspace,” the air traffic monitoring service wrote, attempting to debunk a viral map circulating on social media that showed Syrian airspace to be virtually empty as a result of the latest alert. In fact, the map didn't look too different on any given day last week, Flightradar24 cautioned.
Although commercial international flights over Syria had already sharply decreased, Eurocontrol's latest warning expands the area affected. Eurocontrol's alert also cautions about air routes near the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, which is more than 150 miles from Syria.
Although some are criticizing the nonbinding alert as overly cautious, air traffic monitors point to the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine during the fighting there. All passengers and crew members — about 300 people — were killed in the crash.
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