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Air France Extends Suspension of Paris-Beirut Flights Until Aug 6

This combination of pictures created on August 03, 2024 shows a Transavia Boeing 737-800 parked on the tarmac at Paris Orly airport on June 26, 2020 and Air France planes parked during an Air France pilots strike on the tarmac of Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy on September 24, 2014. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT and STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
This combination of pictures created on August 03, 2024 shows a Transavia Boeing 737-800 parked on the tarmac at Paris Orly airport on June 26, 2020 and Air France planes parked during an Air France pilots strike on the tarmac of Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy on September 24, 2014. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT and STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
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Air France Extends Suspension of Paris-Beirut Flights Until Aug 6

This combination of pictures created on August 03, 2024 shows a Transavia Boeing 737-800 parked on the tarmac at Paris Orly airport on June 26, 2020 and Air France planes parked during an Air France pilots strike on the tarmac of Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy on September 24, 2014. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT and STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
This combination of pictures created on August 03, 2024 shows a Transavia Boeing 737-800 parked on the tarmac at Paris Orly airport on June 26, 2020 and Air France planes parked during an Air France pilots strike on the tarmac of Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy on September 24, 2014. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT and STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

Air France said on Saturday it and its affiliate Transavia were further extending their suspensions of flights between Paris and Beirut until at least Aug 6, amid rising regional tensions.

Airlines are avoiding Iranian and Lebanese airspace and cancelling flights to Israel and Lebanon, as concerns grow over a possible regional conflict after the killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah this week.

Air France suspended flights between Paris and Beirut last Monday, two days after a strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers, which Israel and the United States blamed on Hezbollah.

That suspension was extended on Wednesday until at least Saturday, Aug 3, Reuters reported.

"Given the security situation (...) the airline extends its suspension of its flights between Paris and Beirut until Aug 6 included," Air France said in a statement, adding it was monitoring the situation in Lebanon in real time.

"The resuming of service will be subject of a new assessment of the situation on the ground, " said the company, part of Air-France-KLM.

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Iraq, UK Agree on Trade Package Worth up to $15 Billion, Defense Deal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
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Iraq, UK Agree on Trade Package Worth up to $15 Billion, Defense Deal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) shake hands during their meeting in Downing Street in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

Iraq and Britain have agreed on a trade package worth up to 12.3 billion pounds ($14.98 billion) and a bilateral defense deal, the Iraqi and British prime ministers said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The deal, envisaging more than 10 times the total of bilateral trade in 2024, was announced after a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and British counterpart Keir Starmer at the latter's Downing Street offices.

It includes a 1.2-billion-pound project in which British-made power transmission systems will be used for a grid interconnection project between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as a 500-million-pound plan to upgrade the Al-Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq.

A water infrastructure project by a UK-led consortium that will help provide clean water in arid southern and western Iraq is also part of the deal, the statement said. The project would be worth up to 5.3 billion pounds in UK exports.

Sudani and Starmer also signed a defense deal that "establishes the basis for a new era in security cooperation".

Sudani said earlier that the UK-Iraqi security deal would develop bilateral military ties after last year's announcement that the US-led coalition set up to fight ISIS would end its work in Iraq in 2026.

The Iraqi premier began an official visit to the United Kingdom on Monday amid historic geopolitical shifts in the Middle East.

Iraq is trying to avoid becoming a conflict zone once again amid a period of regional upheaval that has seen Iran's allies Hamas degraded in Gaza and Hezbollah battered in Lebanon during wars with Israel, and Bashar al-Assad toppled in Syria.