Global airlines suspended dozens of flights to Lebanon on Friday and some deployed extra planes to Syria to pick up hundreds of passengers stranded after Israel launched fresh attacks on Beirut Airport.

Gulf Air said it was putting on bigger aircraft to fly 100 extra passengers daily from Damascus to its hub in Bahrain, while Greece's Olympic Airlines had planes on standby to return travellers to Athens.

"We are working closely with the civil aviation authorities and other officials in Bahrain and Lebanon to ensure Bahrain-bound passengers are brought back as early as possible," Gulf Air Vice President Operations Hameed Ali said in a statement.

European and Middle East carriers have suspended flights to and from Beirut since Israeli warplanes first bombed its runways on Thursday morning. Israel rocketed runways at the airport again Friday.

British Airways' franchise partner British Mediterranean Airways said on Friday it had suspended its daily flight to and from Beirut.

BA said it would schedule additional flights from Damascus over the weekend to serve stranded passengers.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said it has an Olympic Airlines aircraft on stand-by that could fly to Amman, Jordan at a three-hour notice and fly Greek or EU citizens to Athens.

Cyprus Airways chartered a flight to Damascus to pick up nationals stranded there after fleeing Lebanon. Lebanese who were abroad when the airport was hit are now unable to return.

Middle East Airlines flew five planes out of Beirut to safety in Amman on Friday morning after repairing a stretch of runway. Other MEA planes had been diverted on Wednesday.

Germany's Lufthansa has cancelled all flights to Beirut until Sunday and said it would make a decision later on flights from Monday. Services to Amman and Tel Aviv were unaffected.