Country by country, here's how the unfolding war is affecting the Middle East

JERUSALEM (AP) — The unfolding war in the Middle East has ricocheted across the region, with nearly every country sustaining damage from missile hits or shrapnel, many reporting casualties, and key embassies, economic engines and passageways closing down.

Foreign governments are urging their citizens to leave on any available commercial flight as Gulf airspaces largely close, cruise ships can’t pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and major airlines cancel flights. The U.S. State Department says it has evacuated nonemergency personnel and families in six nations, adding the United Arab Emirates to its list on Tuesday. It also has advised citizens from 14 countries to leave. Governments from Russia to Germany and France also scrambled to run repatriation flights.

Here's a country-by-country breakdown of the impact of the war so far.

All airspace information is from the real-time flight-tracking service Flightradar 24, as of Tuesday, or national authorities.

Damage and casualties: Iran has by far the highest reported death toll of countries in the region. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 787 people. That includes more than 160 the state-run IRNA news agency says were killed by a strike on an elementary school in Minab. Israel says it was not involved in the incident. When asked by reporters about it, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he did not have details but that the U.S. would not deliberately target a school.

U.S.-Israeli strikes have targeted nuclear infrastructure, missile launchers, government buildings in Tehran and leadership compounds, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top military officials. Satellite images of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility taken Monday show several damaged buildings, compared with imagery from the previous day, along with additional damage across the facility’s complex.

Airspace: Closed.

Damage and casualties: Several locations have been hit by Iranian missiles, killing 11 people. The extent of damage to Israeli military bases and other sensitive locations is unknown; the military does not reveal that information.

Airspace: Closed for commercial flights.

Damage and casualties: The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate. At least 52 people have been killed and 154 wounded, Lebanese authorities said.

Israel hit Beirut with more airstrikes early Tuesday, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities,” and sent ground troops into southern Lebanon border areas. Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a war for more than a year, ending with a November 2024 ceasefire that left the militant group greatly weakened.

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon said Tuesday it was closing to the public until further notice.

Airspace: Lebanon’s airspace is not fully closed. Flights are coming and going, but many airlines have canceled flights.

Damage and casualties: Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital early Tuesday. The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery also came under attack from drones, but its defenses downed the aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The refinery has a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.

Airspace: Partially closed in the area bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

Damage and casualties: On Monday, the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait was struck. On Tuesday, it announced it was closing to the public until further notice.

Six U.S. soldiers in a logistics unit were killed by a strike in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry said Sunday that one person was killed and 32 injured in an Iranian strike, all migrant workers from unnamed countries.

Airspace: Closed

Damage and casualties: Three people were killed in the UAE — foreign workers from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The city of Dubai, with a global reputation as the safest place in the Middle East and a hub for global investment, has sustained damage to its international airport and, according to CENTCOM, hotels along its coastline. Iran also targeted two Amazon data centers in the UAE, the company said Tuesday.

Airspace: Closed for commercial flights. Some evacuation flights began Monday.

Damage and casualties: The ripple effects of the war have hit Egypt’s struggling economy, as global shipping firms decided to reroute vessel fleets away from the Suez Canal. The canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, is a major source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped country.

Airspace: Commercial flights are leaving the country, though there have been cancellations, and most countries are recommending residents travel through Taba and Sharm al-Sheikh instead of Cairo.

Damage and casualties: Jordanian police announced Sunday that five people were injured by falling shrapnel after Iranian projectiles were intercepted in the kingdom’s airspace.

Airspace: The Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority said the airspace will be closed from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily until further notice.

Damage and casualties: Iran has hit energy facilities in Qatar.

Airspace: Closed.

Damage and casualties: Strikes on Iranian proxy sites by the U.S. or Israel have killed militia members. Multiple drone and missile attacks have been launched at the U.S. bases and consulate in Irbil, and protesters attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil said Tuesday that it would stop production in a key oil field because of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, causing crude oil prices to surge worldwide. The ministry cited a shortage of tankers entering the Gulf, forcing them to “stop production and pumping” from the southern Rumaila fields near the city of Basra.

Airspace: Closed.

Damage and casualties: Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said fire from a strike killed one Asian worker and seriously wounded two others early Monday morning. There was also a drone impact near an Amazon data center, the company said Tuesday.

Airspace: Closed.

Damage and casualties: Several people, including children, suffered minor injuries in the countryside outside Damascus from Iranian missile debris, Syria’s state news agency SANA said. Some areas in Syria’s southern provinces also saw missile debris fall from Iranian projectiles fired toward Israel, with no additional injuries or material damage reported, SANA said.

Airspace: Closed.

Damage and casualties: Oman has been attacked by drones multiple times since the Iran war started. The attacks targeted the country’s largest port of Salalah, as well as Duqm port. At least one vessel also was hit off the country’s coast.

Airspace: Open, but many commercial flights are canceled.

AP writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Coffins holding the bodies of mostly children sit in a room as they are prepared for the funeral of those killed in what Iranian officials said was an Israeli-U.S. strike Feb. 28 at a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA via AP)

Officers from Israel's Home Front Command inspect a damaged apartment building after an Iranian missile strike in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Firefighters inspect the rubble as smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Large fire and plume of smoke is visible after, according to the authorities, debris of an Iranian intercepted drone hit the Fujairah oil facility, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Frustrated and anxious travelers clamored Tuesday for ways out of the Middle East and beyond as the widening Iran war constrained commercial flights through the region for a fourth day, stranding tens of thousands of people.

The conflict that started Saturday when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran grounded airline passengers in major Mideast cities as well as ones awaiting connecting flights in countries far from the threat of airstrikes. With national airspaces closed or tightly restricted across much of the Gulf, many were unsure what to do and appealed to their governments for information and exit strategies.

“They say ‘Get out,’ but how do you expect us to get out when airspaces are closed?” said Odies Turner, a 32-year-old chef from Dallas who was stuck in Doha, Qatar. “They just have been canceling every flight. I want to go home.”

The U.S. State Department told American citizens to leave more than a dozen countries in the region right away using any available commercial transportation. The countries included Iran and Israel, as well as Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

But commercial options remained limited.

About 18,000 flights, or nearly 55% of all scheduled flight arrivals and departures in the Middle East, have been canceled since Saturday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The number included 3,800 cancellations on Tuesday.

The State Department said Tuesday it was “actively securing” military and charter aircraft to fly Americans out of the region. It said it was in contact with nearly 3,000 citizens seeking assistance or information.

“We know that we’re going to be able to help them,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Tuesday, while cautioning that “it's going to take a little time because we don’t control the airspace closures."

He urged stranded Americans to contact the State Department.

“There may be more people out there that need help,” he said. "We need to know who you are.”

Earlier in the day, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee wrote in a social media that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” He provided information ”as a courtesy to those wishing to leave" about an Israeli government shuttle bus to Egypt that Americans could try“as you make your own security plans.”

Israel’s flag carrier, El Al, said it was launching a large-scale “recovery operation” as Ben-Gurion Airport prepares to gradually reopen for limited incoming flights around the clock starting early Thursday.

Israel’s airspace has been closed since Saturday, although some land crossings remain open. Transportation Minister Miri Regev said thousands have returned that way.

Under the plan, one passenger flight per hour will be allowed in the first 24 hours, totaling about 5,000 people, with more later depending on security. It is unclear whether only Israelis will be permitted on the flights, and no commercial departures leaving Israel have been approved

Across the Middle East, travelers waited in airport terminals and hotels, or stayed inside because of airstrikes. Some cruise passengers were unable to disembark or reroute because ships could not sail through the Strait of Hormuz.

Matt Carwell, 46, spoke over the phone Tuesday from his hotel room balcony in the UAE city of Duba i. Then he cutoff midsentence.

“Wow,” the American said, “there was just a boom.” Then a fighter jet roared somewhere overhead. Carwell, who currently volunteers at a New Hampshire high school, has flights booked and is just waiting for one not to get cancelled.

“Right now, we’re safe and comfortable,” he said, but not everyone is. “Just feel for them and feel for the people who have either lost their lives or lost someone they're close to.”

The airspaces of countries that included Iran, Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria were still shut Tuesday, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. Saudi Arabia partially closed routes near its border with Iraq and along the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates declared its airspace partially closed, and Jordan suspended daily flights from the mid-afternoon until 6 a.m. local time. Oman’s airspace remained open.

Tracking data from Flightradar24 showed some planes flying either south or north around the shuttered airspace. One of the busiest detours ran over Egypt and Saudi Arabia toward India and Asia, while another extended north across Afghanistan and Turkmenistan toward European airspace.

The geography of the war has magnified the disruption to air travel. Gulf airports connect Europe, Africa and Asia, and carriers routinely funnel long-haul passengers through hubs such as Dubai and Doha.

“Effectively within the Middle East, an eight-hour flying distance covers two-thirds of the world population,” said Anita Mendiratta, an aviation and tourism consultant who was stranded in Bangkok.

When that corridor is blocked, Mendiratta said, it forces planes far north or far south, which "puts huge pressure on the airlines.”

Some of the aviation notices governing the closures allow authorities to reopen or restrict portions of airspace on short notice depending on security conditions, meaning flight schedules can change rapidly as the conflict continues to unfold.

Despite the uncertainty, some travelers managed to catch flights.

Oman Airways advertised flights from Muscat International Airport for passengers who could reach Oman from the UAE. Virgin Atlantic said it planned to restart some services between London Heathrow Airport and Dubai and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“We called our children at 3 a.m. to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them,” said Mariana Muicaru, one of hundreds of Romanian pilgrims who had been stranded on a church trip to Israel. She described watching rockets streak across the sky, before eventually reaching Bucharest on Tuesday.

Some British tourists who were stranded in the UAE were relieved to land safely Monday night at Heathrow Airport. Adam Barton, who was traveling with his family from Abu Dhabi, said he was getting alerts on his phone about potential missile strikes while in the airport before he left.

“We had an alert on our phone, saying to get away from the windows for potential missile attacks,” Barton said.

Meanwhile, some wealthy travelers were paying large sums for luxury flights to Europe via airports that are safe from Iranian drone and missile attacks. Demand for charter flights has skyrocketed, with some people paying up to 200,000 euros ($232,000).

Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Danica Kirka in London; Daniel Niemann in Frankfurt, Germany; Kristen Grieshaber in Berlin; Samuel Petrequin in Paris; Giada Zampano in Rome; Nicolae Dumitrache in Bucharest, Romania; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; and Julie Walker in New York.

A man, center right, breaks down as he hugs a relative at airport upon his arrival from Jeddah, in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Jeff and Rebecca Moses from Manchester, arrive at Terminal 4 of London Heathrow Airport on a flight from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 2, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

People arrive at the airport after being evacuated from the Middle East on a government flight, in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

An Indian man who was stranded in Dubai is welcomed by his relatives upon his arrival at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo)

An Airbus A380 from Abu Dhabi lands without passengers, in Munich, Germany, Monday, March 2, 2026, due to safety reasons as a cabin crew of at least 17 people would have been required to take passengers on board, which, according to Lufthansa, was not available and could not be flown in due to the massive restrictions. (Malin Wunderlich/dpa via AP)

Flight attendants and passengers arrive at the International Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, from Dubai, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A man celebrates as he arrives at the International Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, after being evacuated from Dubai on a commercial flight, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

People arrive at the International Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, after being evacuated from Dubai on a commercial flight, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

An overseas Filipino worker sleeps as she waits for updates on her cancelled flight to the Middle East at Manila's International Airport, Philippines on Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Antonia, 5 years old, sits on suitcases upon arriving at the Henri Coanda International airport after being evacuated from Israel via Egypt on a commercial flight in Otopeni, Romania, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A man works beside a parked Emirates plane at Manila's International Airport, Philippines on Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A display in the arrivals terminal of the Henri Coanda International Airport shows cancelled flights originating in Middle East countries, in Otopeni, Romania, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)