Foreign Office issues travel warnings for 18 countries including Dubai

Travel advice has been updated for Brits heading to 18 countries, including winter sun hotspots Egypt, Tunisia, Dubai and Morocco, in the wake of Israel‘s airstrikes on Iran.

Britain’s Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for 18 countries after Israel struck Iran in the early hours of Saturday (October 26).

The current advice says: “Ongoing hostilities in the region and between Israel and Lebanon could escalate quickly and pose risks for the wider region.

“On October 1, Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. On October 26, Israel carried out military action against Iran.”

Countries subject to the advice are Cyprus, Turkey, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Morocco, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel and Libya.

Some of the countries listed are popular destinations for Brits looking for winter sun, such as Dubai, Tunisia and Egypt.

Anyone planning to visit the countries listed should check the full details of the Foreign Office’s travel advice.

The Foreign Office advises against travel to Iran and has also warned against visiting certain parts of Egypt, including North Sinai and the country’s border with Libya.

Brits have already been advised against all but essential travel near Saudi Arabia‘s border with Yemen as well as Algeria’s borders with Libya, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.

The Foreign Office also advises against travel to Tunisia’s border with Algeria and Libya.

Iran closed its airspace early on Saturday. The Associated Press analysed flight-tracking data showing that commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran and across Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

Israel‘s attack ended just before sunrise in Tehran, with Tel Aviv saying it targeted manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year. It also said it hit surface-to-air missile sites and “additional Iranian aerial capabilities”.

The attack came after Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel in April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on October 1, sending Israelis scrambling for bomb shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries.

Tehran said the barrage was in retaliation for attacks in recent months which killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately said Iran had “made a big mistake”.