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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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Abir Moussi Submits Candidacy for Tunisian Presidency from Prison

Head of the Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi. (AFP)
Head of the Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi. (AFP)
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Abir Moussi Submits Candidacy for Tunisian Presidency from Prison

Head of the Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi. (AFP)
Head of the Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi. (AFP)

Members of the defense team of Abir Moussi, head of the Free Destourian Party, submitted on Saturday her candidacy for the presidency of Tunisia to the Independent High Authority for Elections.

The elections are set for October 6.

One of her lawyers said the file has nearly all the required documents.

Moussi, a lawyer and activist, was arrested in front of the presidential palace in October 2023 when she filed an appeal against a presidential decree that she said paralyzed state institutions.

She faces another complaint from the elections authority over remarks that questioned its integrity.

Several opposition members have been jailed on various charges, such as conspiring against the state.

The opposition accuses President Kais Saied and the authorities of exerting pressure on its candidates and undermining democracy.

Saied announced on July 19 that he would seek another five-year term. Elected in 2019, Saied dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree in a move the opposition described as a coup. He has said he will not hand over power to what he calls "non-patriots".

As an Aug. 6 deadline for registering as a presidential candidate looms, 11 opposition figures who hope to run against Saied issued a joint statement this week criticizing the authorities, Reuters reported.

"The violations have affected most of the serious candidates to the point that they appear to indicate a desire to exclude them (from the election) and restrict them in order to make way for a specific candidate," they said in the joint statement.

None of the 11 opposition candidates have yet obtained a document certifying that they have no criminal record - a new condition - which will then allow them to register.