Services by airlines of the group to Tel Aviv in Israel and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan were suspended until around 6am (CET) on Saturday due to the “current situation”, a spokesman told AFP.

Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines also decided as a “precautionary measure” to suspend flights to Jordan’s capital Amman, as well as Erbil and Tel Aviv on Friday “to comprehensively reassess the security situation”.

“Austrian Airlines continuously monitors and assesses the security situation in the Middle East and is in close contact with the authorities,” Austrian Airlines said in a statement sent to AFP.

Another subsidiary of the German group, SWISS, said it was suspending Zurich-Tel Aviv services until April 25.

Explaining the relatively long suspension, it said repeated cancellations at short notice in recent weeks had caused problems for passengers.

“With this measure, we aim to provide stability, reliability, and predictability for passengers and flight crews,” it added.

World leaders called for de-escalation, after United States media quoted officials saying Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran, after the Islamic republic’s missile and drone attack against Israel.

Both Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have already suspended their flights to and from Tehran up until the end of the month.