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Flights Cancelled Amid Hezbollah-Israel Escalation

Passengers wait for their flights at the Beirut International Airport in Beirut on August 25, 2024. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Passengers wait for their flights at the Beirut International Airport in Beirut on August 25, 2024. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
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Flights Cancelled Amid Hezbollah-Israel Escalation

Passengers wait for their flights at the Beirut International Airport in Beirut on August 25, 2024. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Passengers wait for their flights at the Beirut International Airport in Beirut on August 25, 2024. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Several airlines have cancelled flights to Beirut after Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel on Sunday and Israel's military said it struck Lebanon with about 100 jets.

Jordan's flag carrier Royal Jordanian suspended flights to Beirut "due to the current situation,” the state news agency reported without giving an exact time frame for the suspension.

Officials told Reuters there was no disruption to Jordanian airspace.

As for Air France, it cancelled its flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut until Monday at least, the company said.

On Friday, German airline giant Lufthansa said it was extending a suspension of flights to Beirut until September 30.

Lebanon's civil aviation authority emphasised Sunday that "the airport is functioning normally" despite some disruptions.

There is "no truth" to rumours that all flights have been cancelled, said a statement from the authority carried by the official National News Agency.

A number of airlines had already announced flight suspensions or cancellations to Beirut in recent weeks, with some later resuming services.

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Assad Says Efforts to Restore Ties with Türkiye Have Yielded No Results

File photo of a previous meeting between Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (The AP)
File photo of a previous meeting between Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (The AP)
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Assad Says Efforts to Restore Ties with Türkiye Have Yielded No Results

File photo of a previous meeting between Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (The AP)
File photo of a previous meeting between Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (The AP)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday that efforts to mend ties with Türkiye had so far brought no tangible results.

"The initiatives did not yield any results worth mentioning despite the seriousness and genuine keenness of mediators," Assad said in a speech to the Syrian parliament, referring to conciliation efforts by Russia, Iran and Iraq.

Türkiye severed ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, in which it supported opposition seeking to oust Assad. Assad views the opposition as terrorists, according to Reuters.

"The solution is openness," Assad said. "Restoring a relationship requires first removing the causes that led to its destruction."

The Syrian president made clear that while he wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syria, that was not a precondition for talks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said earlier in July he would extend an invitation to Assad "any time" for possible talks to restore relations.

A Turkish newspaper earlier reported Erdogan and Assad could meet in August, but a Turkish diplomat denied the report.

Russia has been trying to facilitate a meeting between the two leaders in an effort to restore ties. Iraq also said in July that it may seek to try to bring the two leaders together.