Story ID: 
Caution Advised as Middle East Airspace Reopens
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: EASA is remianing in touch with operators about Middle East security concerns
Word Count: 240
European authorities are continuing to urge caution for flights in the Middle East region as a series of Saturday-published notams closing airspace in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran expired yesterday. Following Iran's attacks against Israel on Saturday, the European Commission and EASA are continuing to closely monitor the situation to assess safety risks and have remained in close contact with all relevant civil aviation authorities, in particular with the Israeli agency.
“Currently, there are a number of risk-mitigation instruments in place for the airspaces concerned, including publicly available Conflict Zone Information Bulletins (CZIBs) and Information Notes that have been distributed to relevant parties on a need-to-know basis,” EASA said.
Caution is recommended for flights in Israel and neighboring airspace extending out 100 nm. EASA advised operators to follow all available aeronautical publications in place, including updates from the European Information Sharing and Cooperation Platform.
In addition, Iran is similarly recommending caution and to follow all available aeronautical publications, including on the European Information Sharing and Cooperation Platform. EASA noted that Iran has warned that “there continues to be an increased potential for miscalculation and/or misidentification at present over FIR Tehran.”
Iraq, meanwhile, is advising against flights below FL320 within FIR Baghdad, and Syria is advising against overflights at all altitudes of FIR Damascus.
Security officials also advise that incidents of GNSS spoofing are continuing throughout the region.