PARIS, France — Israel’s neighbors closed airspace, and airline crews skirted an escalating conflict, with many seeking diversions, after Iran fired some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in its second-ever direct attack on the Jewish state.

A spokesperson for tracking service FlightRadar24 said flights diverted “anywhere they could,” a snapshot of traffic in the region showed flights spreading in wide arcs to the north and south, with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.

FlightRadar24 said Istanbul and Antalya in southern Turkey were becoming congested, forcing some airlines to divert south. On Tuesday, about 80 flights, operated by Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways and bound for major Middle East hubs such as Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, were diverted to places such as Cairo and European cities, its data showed.

On Tuesday, about 80 flights operated by Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways and bound for major Middle East hubs such as Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi were diverted to places such as Cairo and European cities, its data showed.

Many airlines have suspended flights to the region or avoided using affected air space. Iran launched the largely unsuccessful bombardment in retaliation for the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week and the recent killings of a slew of other senior members of Iran-backed terror groups.

Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control agency, earlier sent a warning to pilots about the escalating conflict.“A major missile attack has been launched against Israel in the last few minutes. At present, the entire country is under a missile warning,” it said in an urgent navigation bulletin.

Iran launched the largely unsuccessful bombardment in retaliation for the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week and the recent killings of a slew of other senior members of Iran-backed terror groups.

Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control agency, earlier sent a warning to pilots about the escalating conflict.“A major missile attack has been launched against Israel in the last few minutes. At present, the entire country is under a missile warning,” it said in an urgent navigation bulletin.

Shortly afterwards it announced the closure of Jordanian and Iraqi airspace as well as the closure of a key crossing point into airspace controlled by Cyprus. An Iraqi pilot bulletin said its Baghdad-controlled airspace was “closed due to security until further notice.”

Iraq’s transport ministry later announced that Iraqi airspace would be reopened for incoming and outgoing civilian flights at Iraqi airports. FlightRadar24 said on X, “It will be a while before flights are active there again.”

Jordan also reopened its airspace after closing it following the attack, the Jordanian state news agency reported. Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamie, said on X that airspace would be closed to air traffic for two hours on Tuesday.

The latest disruptions were expected to deal a further blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas and Russia and Ukraine.