Major airline could ban two items over explosion fears amidst Middle East tensions

The explosive escalation of conflict in the in recent weeks has caused safety concerns about potentially explosive devices at a major airline, prompting a widespread ban on pagers and walkie talkies. announcing the ban, said these devices would be confiscated from travellers by police.

On September 17, Israel signalled the beginning of a new front in their by simultaneously exploding thousands of pagers and walkie talkies across neighbouring The attack revealed that their intelligence service had planted remote-controlled explosives in tens of thousand of handheld devices, which resulted in the deaths of 42 and injured more than 3000.

While this attack injured scores of Hezbollah troops, many of these devices had also made their way into the hands of civilians, leading to wider security concerns about their spread. Three weeks later, the Saudi Arabian airline took the step of banning all pagers and walkie-talkies from cabins and checked luggage, amid ongoing fears that these devices could explode.

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Emirates is the largest airline in the region, running more than 3600 flights across the Middle East every week, meaning this security change could affect millions of passengers. This prohibition affects all Emirates flights that land in Dubai.

A statement on the Emirates website reads: "All Passengers travelling on flights to, from or via Dubai are prohibited from transporting pagers and walkie talkies in checked or cabin baggage.

"Such items found in passengers' hand luggage or checked baggage will be confiscated by Dubai Police."

The airline giant has also ended all flights to Lebanon amid the escalating rocket attacks from both the militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as well as to Iran and Iraq, as the already deadly conflict spreads. “We continue to closely monitor the situation in the region and are in contact with the relevant authorities regarding developments,” Emirates has stated.

These restrictions are likely to remain in place as the Israel Defence Forces continue to operate in southern Lebanon, with now daily airstrikes on population centres such as the capital Beirut. The Foreign Office has warned travellers that this could "escalate quickly and pose risks for the wider region."