This is an issue which is not specific to BA and affects all Western European carriers. Yes, the routes to the near Middle East are too long for standard intra-European config but they are also rather short and a tad thin for long-haul config. AF has the same issue. Until relatively recently, TLV and CAI were flown on short-haul equipment whereas BEY was flown on long-haul. They have now put all these routes on long-haul equipment but they still use short-haul equipment for EVN and TBS, even though these are slightly longer routes. Use of short-haul equipment to near-middle-East destinations is pretty common among Western European carriers.