European airlines extend suspension of Middle East flights
European airlines extend suspension of Middle East flights/node/2573528/middle-east
European airlines extend suspension of Middle East flights
Top European airlines Lufthansa, KLM and Swiss on Tuesday announced that they were extending their suspension of flights to the Middle East, as tensions spiral throughout the region. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 October 2024
AFP
European airlines extend suspension of Middle East flights
The moves come as Israel launched strikes on Beirut and a senior White House official warned that Iran was preparing to launch a ballistic missile attack
Also on Tuesday, German airline group Lufthansa said it was suspending flights to Beirut up to and including November 30
Updated 01 October 2024
AFP
FRANKFURT: Top European airlines Lufthansa, KLM and Swiss on Tuesday announced that they were extending their suspension of flights to the Middle East, as tensions spiral throughout the region.
The moves come as Israel launched strikes on Beirut and a senior White House official warned that Iran was preparing to launch a ballistic missile attack “imminently” against Israel.
KLM has pushed out until the end of the year the suspension of its once-daily flight to Tel Aviv “given the situation in the region,” spokeswoman Elvira van der Vis told AFP.
The Dutch airline had already announced in August that it was suspending flights to Israel until October 26.
Also on Tuesday, German airline group Lufthansa said it was suspending flights to Beirut up to and including November 30.
Lufthansa group flights to Tel Aviv will be canceled until October 31 while trips to Tehran remain canceled until October 14.
“We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers,” the group said.
Later on Tuesday the Lufthansa group said that it had also decided to “avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Jordanian airspace up to and including 2 October,” adding that “flights will continue to avoid Israeli airspace up to and including 31 October.”
The Lufthansa group — whose carriers also include Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines — has repeatedly modified its flight schedule in recent months due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, as have other airlines.
Following the example of its parent company, Swiss said the extension of its flight suspensions was “intended to provide more predictability for both our passengers and our crews.”
The Israeli army said it had launched a ground offensive in Lebanon and that its forces engaged in clashes on Tuesday, further escalating the conflict after a week of intense air strikes that killed hundreds.
Meanwhile, a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the United States has indications that Iran was preparing to launch a missile attack against Israel “imminently.”
“We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack,” the official said, warning that such an action would “carry severe consequences for Iran.”
Survivors carry scars, await accountability five years after Lebanon’s Beirut port blast
Daily hospital visits have become rituals of remembrance and protest for many families of blast victims
Families have hope the new administration’s declared stance will be translated into action
Updated 10 min 50 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: In a hospital room in the mountains of Mount Lebanon, 47-year-old Lara Hayek lies motionless. Five years after the catastrophic Beirut port explosion left her in a vegetative state, her mother Najwa maintains a daily vigil, clinging to hope that justice will finally arrive.
“Every single day, I wait for Lebanon’s courts to prosecute those who perpetrated this crime against defenseless civilians,” Najwa told Arab News.
The blast’s impact on Lara was devastating. Shrapnel from the explosion penetrated her eye, causing severe brain hemorrhaging that led to cardiac arrest.
Her frail body now depends entirely on medical intervention — breathing through a tracheostomy tube and receiving nutrition through a feeding tube inserted into her abdomen.
This combination of pictures created from UGC footage taken on August 4, 2020 and filmed from a high-rise shows a fireball exploding while smoke is billowing at the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut. (AFP)
“Medically speaking, my daughter died that day,” her mother said. “Emergency responders could not reach her quickly because every hospital was flooded with hundreds of casualties.”
Lara had been unwinding on her couch after work, in an apartment mere blocks from the Foreign Ministry, when the Aug. 4, 2020, explosion — comparable in force to an earthquake — tore through Beirut. Her mother’s late departure from work that day likely saved her life.
The daily hospital visits have become Najwa’s ritual of remembrance and protest. She speaks to her unresponsive daughter about her frustrations.
Wounded men are evacuated following of an explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. (AFP)
“I buried my husband just one year before Lara’s accident. My son fled Lebanon. Now I am entirely alone, after they destroyed the daughter I sacrificed everything to raise.”
She added: “The government ignores her existence, refuses to cover her medical expenses — just like countless other victims forced to shoulder their own healthcare costs.”
The tragedy extends beyond her immediate family — her sister’s household, her brother-in-law’s family, all bear scars from that Tuesday evening.
FASTFACTS
• The Beirut port blast had a force equivalent to 1,000-1,500 tons of TNT, or 1.1 kilotons.
• Felt over 200 km away in Cyprus, causing damage to buildings up to 10 km from the port.
• It registered as a 3.3-magnitude earthquake, with shockwaves disrupting the ionosphere.
Half a decade after the explosion sent tremors across Lebanon and into neighboring nations, the architects of this preventable catastrophe walk free.
Judicial proceedings have implicated an extensive network of culpable parties — including former prime ministers, cabinet members, and high-ranking military, security, customs and judicial personnel. Their alleged crimes span from “professional negligence” to “possible premeditated murder.”
The disaster unfolded during the evening commute on Aug. 4, 2020, at 5:15 p.m. local time, as residents traveled home or conducted routine business in offices and residences.
A ship is pictured engulfed in flames at the port of Beirut following a massive explosion that hit the heart of the Lebanese capital on August 4, 2020. (AFP)
A fire erupted in a port warehouse containing 2,750 tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate, along with kerosene, oil, fireworks, and methanol — ignited during welding repairs on the facility’s entrance.
By 6:06 p.m., the blaze had escalated into a nuclear-scale detonation that obliterated sections of the capital, excavated a 40-meter underwater crater, and claimed over 220 lives instantaneously while leaving thousands more trapped, bleeding and dying across the metropolitan area.
Lebanon mourned as a nation that tragic day, its anguish spanning the country’s entire 10,452 square kilometers.
The death toll continues its grim climb as comatose patients succumb to their injuries. Cecile Roukoz, legal counsel for families of victims and sister of deceased victim Joseph Roukoz, says the current tally stands at “245 fatalities and over 6,500 wounded.”
Lebanese army soldiers carry away an injured man at a hospital in the aftermath of an explosion at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 4, 2020. (AFP)
Najwa’s voice betrayed the exhaustion born of futile advocacy. “We have screamed ourselves hoarse in street demonstrations, demanding accountability,” she said. “Five years later, we have nothing to show for it.”
She said many families have abandoned hope and emigrated. Those who remain cannot trust authorities who have absolved themselves of responsibility for the shedding of their citizens’ blood.
The international scope of the tragedy is reflected in its victims: 52 foreign nationals from France, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Iran, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Egypt and Bangladesh perished, alongside a Palestinian driver who suffered fatal cardiac arrest from the explosion’s shockwave near Hotel-Dieu Hospital.
An aerial view shows the massive damage at Beirut port's grain silos and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a massive explosion hit the heart of the Lebanese capital. (AFP)
This year, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government decided to commemorate the anniversary by declaring a “national day of mourning, with flags flown at half-mast on official buildings, public administrations, and municipalities, and adjusting regular programming on radio and television stations to reflect the grief of the Lebanese people.”
The anniversary is accompanied by religious services in Beirut and marches organized by activists to raise their voices for “truth, accountability, and justice.”
Banners were raised in neighborhoods that were destroyed and later rebuilt, with messages written on them such as “We will not forget and we will not forgive” and “Aug. 4 is not a memory; it is a crime without punishment.”
Aside from that, the Lebanese people are still waiting for the indictment in the investigation led by Judge Tarek Bitar to be issued. He had promised to issue it this year in order to hold “every official and involved party accountable.”
Bitar held his last interrogation session on Dec. 24, 2021, and his work was later obstructed by lawsuits for recusal and liability filed against him by officials facing accusations. The number of these lawsuits against Bitar reached 43, and the courts have yet to rule on them.
Hezbollah led a campaign demanding Bitar’s removal, plunging the judicial investigation into political entanglement and judicial chaos.
The militant group and its ally, the Amal movement, rejected the prosecution of their affiliated ministers before the ordinary judiciary, insisting on the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers, which stems from Parliament.
Bitar’s conviction, according to a judicial source, is based on the belief that “the crime committed is not political but criminal and led to the killing of hundreds, and he refuses to split the case between the ordinary judiciary and the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers and the High Judicial Council.”
Bitar, whose investigation was forcibly frozen for 13 months, resumed his work at the beginning of this year following the election of Aoun and Salam, amid a shift in the political power balance in Lebanon after the decline of Hezbollah’s influence domestically following its recent war with Israel.
Aoun and Salam pledged in the inaugural address and the ministerial statement to work on establishing “judicial independence, preventing interference in its work, and combating the culture of impunity.”
Judge Jamal Hajjar, public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, annulled the decision of his predecessor, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, made more than two years ago, to halt all cooperation with Bitar. This was in response to Bitar’s charges against Oueidat; Judge Ghassan Khoury, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation; and several other judges in the explosion case.
Before his retirement, Oueidat, in an unprecedented decision and clear challenge to Bitar and his procedures, released all 17 detainees in the port crime case, most of whom are port officials, employees and military personnel, arguing that Bitar was “usurping the title of judicial investigator and abusing authority.”
Hajjar decided to resume cooperation with Bitar and to receive all memos issued by him, including notices summoning defendants for interrogation sessions and preliminary defenses for legal review.
On Jan. 16, Bitar resumed his judicial procedures by charging 10 officials, including seven officers from the Lebanese Army, General Security and Customs, and three civil employees, and later interrogated them.
The past months of March and April witnessed an unprecedented surge in investigative sessions dedicated to questioning security and political leaders who had previously refused to appear before him.
These included notably Hassan Diab, former prime minister; Nohad Machnouk, former interior minister; Jean Kahwaji, former army commander; Abbas Ibrahim, former General Security chief; former State Security director Gen. Tony Saliba; and Brigadier General Asaad Al-Tufayli, former Higher Council of Customs head.
To date, the only two individuals who have not yet appeared before Bitar are Judge Oweidat and Ghazi Zeaiter, a former MP and minister affiliated with Amal.
The judicial source told Arab News that the number of defendants in this case has reached 70.
“Judge Bitar has not informed the defendants of any decision regarding their fate, leaving the matter until the investigation is completed,” he said. “He will overlook the failure of Oweidat and Zeaiter to appear before him for questioning and will proceed with the information already in his possession.”
The source noted that Bitar considers all individuals who have been released by Judge Oweidat as still under arrest and travel bans, except for one defendant who holds US citizenship and has left Lebanon.
A political source predicted that the indictment will be issued soon, as all the facts are now before Judge Bitar and he has political cover. “There is no justification for delaying the issuance in the coming weeks,” he said.
Roukoz, the legal counsel for families of victims, expressed optimism that the indictment would be issued soon. She told Arab News that she attends all interrogation sessions and believes that Judge Bitar has the integrity and determination needed to bring this investigation to a conclusion and issue the indictment, despite the despair of the victims’ families and their loss of hope in justice.
Roukoz said that the families have hope in the new administration’s declared stance — that no corrupt individual or criminal is protected by anyone — will be translated into action.
“We believe that it is the state’s duty to determine who destroyed the city. Dozens of families have emigrated from Lebanon following the explosion, and it is necessary to restore people’s trust in their state and the sovereignty of the law.”
Hamas says no special food privileges for Gaza hostages
Hamas would only allow the ICRC to provide aid to Israeli hostages on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened to Gaza
Updated 03 August 2025
AFP
GAZA CITY: The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Sunday that Israeli hostages would not receive any “special privileges” in the food they are given compared to the rest of the Gazan population.
“(Hamas) does not intentionally starve the captives, but they eat the same food our fighters and the general public eat. They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,” Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, wrote in a statement.
The group added that it would only allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide aid to Israeli hostages on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened to Gaza.
“(We) are ready to respond positively (to) any request by the Red Cross to deliver food and medicine to enemy prisoners. However, we condition our acceptance on the opening of humanitarian corridors... for the passage of food and medicine... across all areas of the Gaza Strip,” Hamas’s military wing wrote in a separate statement.
The response came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that the ICRC help provide food to the hostages held in Gaza, and after the agency issued a “call to be granted access to the hostages” in a statement posted on X.
Syrian and Turkish authorities arrest dangerous drug kingpin
A joint operation between Syria’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate and their Turkish counterparts led to his arrest inside Turkish territory
Amer Jdei Al-Sheikh is wanted by several countries for serious organized crimes related to drug manufacturing and smuggling
Updated 03 August 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Syrian anti-narcotics authorities announced on Sunday the arrest of Amer Jdei Al-Sheikh, a highly dangerous kingpin involved in drug networks in Syria and the Middle East region.
Al-Sheikh is wanted by several countries, including Turkiye, for serious organized crimes related to drug manufacturing and smuggling, according to Syrian authorities.
On Sunday, a joint operation between Syria’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate and their Turkish counterparts led to his arrest inside Turkish territory.
The head of Syria’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate, Brig. Gen. Khaled Eid, told SANA: “The arrested individual was traveling using forged IDs and passports in an attempt to evade security pursuit. He was tracked until he eventually entered Turkish territories, where he was arrested by Turkish authorities in coordination with Syrian counterparts and was handed over to (us).”
He said that Al-Sheikh was among the most “dangerous individuals” involved in drug smuggling networks in Syria and beyond, maintaining close ties with international smuggling rings and influential figures in the underground narcotics world.
Eid said that the suspect maintained close ties with Maher Assad, the brother of the ousted Syrian president, who is accused of spearheading the highly organized expansion of captagon facilities during the era of the former regime.
Yemenis prepare to take to the sea to look for survivors after a boat carrying migrants capsized Yemen’s Shabwah province. (AFP)
Updated 03 August 2025
AFP
At least 68 migrants dead in shipwreck off Yemen: UN migration body
“Many bodies have been found across various beaches, suggesting that a number of victims are still missing at sea,” Abyan province’s security directorate said
Updated 03 August 2025
AFP
DUBAI: A shipwreck off Yemen killed at least 68 migrants, with 74 still missing, The UN’s migration agency reported on Sunday.
“At this stage, the deaths of 27 people are confirmed, their bodies have been recovered,” one security source had earlier said, adding that “searches are ongoing.”
A second source said “150 people were on board the vessel that sank,” also reporting 27 dead.
A police source told AFP that “the boat was heading for the coast of (Abyan) province,” adding that “smuggler boats regularly arrive in our region.”
Abyan province’s security directorate said in a statement that security forces “are currently conducting a large operation to recover the bodies of a significant number of Ethiopian migrants (Oromos) who drowned off the coast of Abyan while attempting to illegally enter Yemeni territory.”
“Many bodies have been found across various beaches, suggesting that a number of victims are still missing at sea,” it added.
Despite the war that has ravaged Yemen since 2014, irregular migration via the impoverished country has continued, in particular from Ethiopia, which itself has been roiled by ethnic conflict.
Migrants cross the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which separates Djibouti from Yemen and is a major route for international trade headed to and from the Suez Canal, as well as for migration and human trafficking.
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, tens of thousands of migrants have become stranded in Yemen and suffer abuse and exploitation during their journeys.
Palestinian administrative prisoner dies in Israeli jail in ‘unknown’ circumstances
Ahmad Said Saleh Tazazaa, from the town of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, was detained on May 6
The last 2 years have been among the deadliest for Palestinian prisoners, according to prisoners’ rights groups
Updated 03 August 2025
Arab News
LONDON: A 20-year-old Palestinian prisoner died on Sunday in an Israeli jail after nearly three months since his arrest, reported the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Ahmad Said Saleh Tazazaa, from the town of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, was detained on May 6. He had been sentenced to administrative detention, a practice that allows Israeli authorities to hold individuals in prison without trial for several months, with the possibility of indefinite extensions.
The groups said that the circumstances surrounding Tazazaa’s death in the Megiddo prison “remain unknown.” His death brings the total number of identified Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have died in Israeli detention since October 2023 to 76 individuals, including 46 from the occupied Gaza Strip.
The last two years have been among the deadliest for Palestinian prisoners, according to the commission and the PPS. Since Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories began in 1967, 313 political prisoners have died while in detention.
Israeli authorities have arrested 18,500 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.