Middle East Airlines Moves Most of its Planes from Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) planes are pictured at the tarmac of Beirut international airport, Lebanon February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
FILE PHOTO: Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) planes are pictured at the tarmac of Beirut international airport, Lebanon February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Middle East Airlines Moves Most of its Planes from Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) planes are pictured at the tarmac of Beirut international airport, Lebanon February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
FILE PHOTO: Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) planes are pictured at the tarmac of Beirut international airport, Lebanon February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) decided to move a number of its airplanes to neighboring countries as a precaution in case of conflict, thus reducing the number of its daily flights from and to Beirut.

The decision came after changes to the company’s insurance coverage policy following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

MEA said it was informed by the insurance companies about a decision to reduce their war risk coverage.

Mohammed Al-Hout, chairman of MEA, said only eight of the company’s 22 planes would operate as of next week, with the rest relocated to other airports.

Only one-third of the company’s flights scheduled before the crisis will remain operational.

MEA plans to move ten of its airplanes to neighboring countries including Cyprus, Oman, and Doha. Seven airplanes will continue flights as normal at Beirut Airport.

Al-Hout said insurance companies began to worry about the risk of war when the Israel-Hamas “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” started, and an assessment was carried out in cooperation with them.

According to the Chairman of MEA, insurance coverage for war risks has been reduced by approximately 80 percent. “However, our priority is to secure communication between Lebanon and the rest of the world,” he said.

“We don’t have security information about a possible attack on the airport in Lebanon but references and all the information we got indicated that the operations will remain within the rules of engagement and under control in southern Lebanon,” Al-Hout affirmed.

Similar concerns arose during the 2006 July War when Israeli airstrikes targeted Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.

“In 2006, the airport was bombed and there were six planes stuck in Lebanon. Through contacts, the Israelis gave us a margin of time to evacuate the planes. However, today the situation is different and it's about insurance companies,” he said.

MEA’s decision came while several countries advised their nationals to leave Lebanon amid rising regional tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war.

On Friday, Oman's embassy in Beirut urged Omani citizens to leave Lebanon immediately “due to the events taking place in the region” in a post from the embassy on social media platform X.

Belgium and Ukraine issued similar travel warnings.

Pierre Achkar, President of the Federation of Tourism Syndicates and the Syndicate of Hotel Owners, revealed significant losses that the Lebanese tourism sector is expected to incur due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the developments in southern Lebanon.

He anticipated that tourism establishments would lose the profits they had earned during the summer season.

Moreover, he disclosed that “European groups planning to visit Lebanon during October and November have canceled their reservations following their countries' travel warnings about going to Lebanon.”



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.