Diplomatic efforts to ease Middle East tensions as Israel awaits Iranian attack

“The Road to Dialogue”

Experts and diplomats worry that the expected attack on Israel could quickly escalate into a regional war.

Turkey on Monday joined supporters in several Western countries and other nations in calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based.

Many airlines have suspended flights to the country or restricted them to daytime hours.

Germany’s Lufthansa has suspended flights to Tel Aviv and other areas, and said its planes will avoid Iraqi and Iranian airspace until at least August 7.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk called on “all parties and influential states to take urgent action to de-escalate what has become a very dangerous situation.”

“We call on all parties concerned to stop any steps that could hinder the path to dialogue and de-escalation,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven, said in a statement.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made a rare visit to the Iranian capital on Sunday and delivered a message from King Abdullah II to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Political analyst Olayib Rantawi said that in the event of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel, Jordan’s “airspace could become a battlefield for missile and anti-missile firing,” but Amman strongly objects to violations of its sovereignty.

“The Iranians have to find other ways to avoid humiliation in Jordan,” Rantawi, director of the Al-Aqsa Center for Political Studies in Amman, told AFP.

The Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group sparked a war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has drawn in Iranian-backed militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Hamas attacks on southern Israel have killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, and the military said 39 had died.

Israel’s retaliatory actions have killed at least 39,623 people, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, but the ministry did not give specific details on the deaths of civilians and militants.