Slew of airlines swerve to avoid Iraqi airspace

EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa all announced on Monday that they will be re-routing flights to avoid Iraqi airspace.

The decission comes amidst ongoing US airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) militants.

Oman Air also joined the companies taking preventative measures, re-routing flights bound for Europe and Lebanon.

The German company Lufthansa also extended a weekend-long ban on flights to Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Flights to the city will be cancelled “until further notice”, following a security review of the situation in Iraq.

All US civilian flights over Iraqi airspace have been cancelled since Friday, when the US military launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State positions.

Airlines have been particularly wary of routing flights over war-torn territories since the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine on 17 July.

Oman Air suspended flights over Ukraine and Syria back in April 2014 as conflicts intensified in the countries.

Embassy staff 

Some US embassy staff were relocated to Basra, in the far south of Iraq, while others were sent to Jordanian capital Amman on Monday.

Describing the move as the result of an “abundance of caution”, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf denied that the US had received any specific threat.

The majority of US personnel in Erbil remain in place, she said. 

US President Barack Obama has in part justified his recent campaign of air strikes, which saw US planes hit four targets on Sunday, by stressing his duty to protect US personnel stationed in Erbil.

The front line of fighting between the Peshmerga and IS militants is currently less than 40 kilometres from the capital Kurdish capital. 

Further south, IS militants made more gains, defeating the Kurdish security forces in Jalawla after a two-day battle.

Security sources confirmed that the town had fallen to the militants. Ten Kurdish fighters were killed and 80 wounded.