Middle East airports closed and thousands of travelers stranded

The attack on Iran by the United States and Israel disrupted flights across the Middle East and beyond as countries around the region closed their airspace and key airports that connect Europe, Africa and the West to Asia were directly hit by strikes.

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The attack on Iran by the United States and Israel disrupted flights across the Middle East

More than 3,400 flights were canceled Sunday across seven airports in the Mideast, according to flight tracker Flightradar24. Airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar's capital, Doha, and Manama in Bahrain were among those closed.

Emirates Airlines suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Sunday afternoon. The Qatar airport was closed until at least Monday morning, according to Qatar Airways. Israeli airspace also remained closed Sunday. Israeli airline El Al said it was preparing a recovery effort to bring home Israelis stranded abroad once the airspace reopened.

Travelers were either stranded or diverted to other airports Saturday after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace. There also was no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, FlightRadar24 said, after the government there announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace.