EgyptAir Says It Resumes Direct Flights between Cairo and Beirut

A general view shows Beirut international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)
A general view shows Beirut international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)
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EgyptAir Says It Resumes Direct Flights between Cairo and Beirut

A general view shows Beirut international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)
A general view shows Beirut international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)

EgyptAir resumed direct flights between Cairo and Beirut on Thursday "in light of the stability in Lebanon" after a three-month hiatus, it said in a statement.
In September 2024, a significant escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict led to widespread disruptions in the Middle East, including the cancellation of flights to Beirut.
The violence, which erupted along the Israeli-Lebanese border and expanded into a full-fledged war on Lebanon, triggered airspace restrictions and heightened security concerns.
International airlines, cautious of potential threats, cancelled flights that were scheduled to land at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, as the situation grew increasingly volatile.
Airlines started resuming their flights after a ceasefire with Israel came into effect late in November.



US Charges Iran Guards Captain in 2022 Killing of American in Iraq

Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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US Charges Iran Guards Captain in 2022 Killing of American in Iraq

Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Smog obscures the skyline in Tehran, Iran, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

The US Justice Department said on Friday it had charged a captain in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards with murder and terrorism offenses in the 2022 death of American Stephen Troell in Iraq.

Mohammad Reza Nouri, 36, helped plan an attack on Troell, 45, who was working at an English language institute in central Baghdad, according to a complaint unsealed in US Federal Court in Manhattan.

The attack was carried out in retaliation for the US killing of the Revolutionary Guards' top commander Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike, according to the complaint.

"The Department of Justice will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Nouri is already in custody in Iraq after being convicted, along with four Iraqis, in that country for Troell's murder. All five were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq last year.

Nouri is facing eight charges in US court, including murder of a US national and providing material support to terrorism resulting in death. The United States considers the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

It was not yet clear if Nouri had an attorney. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint accuses Nouri of collecting personal information on Troell, whom he appears to have believed was an American or Israeli intelligence officer, and recruiting operatives to target him.

Troell was shot and killed on Nov. 7, 2022, after a heavily armed gunman forced him to stop while he was driving home with his wife, according to US authorities.