Lebanon Faces Challenge of Reopening Airport, Containing COVID-19

Lebanon will reopen its international airport on July 1. AFP file photo
Lebanon will reopen its international airport on July 1. AFP file photo
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Lebanon Faces Challenge of Reopening Airport, Containing COVID-19

Lebanon will reopen its international airport on July 1. AFP file photo
Lebanon will reopen its international airport on July 1. AFP file photo

Lebanon is facing a new challenge with the reopening of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport for commercial flights on July 1 even by keeping air traffic at a 10 percent capacity.

“Beirut’s airport opened last Wednesday for private flights, while commercial flights will resume Wednesday with a 10 percent capacity or around 20 flights per day with an expected 2,000 passengers,” Fadi al-Hassan, the facility’s manager, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He did not expect an increase in the price of tickets contrary to the past phase when expatriates were evacuated from the country and planes returned half empty.

He predicted that Lebanon’s relatively limited cases of the COVID-19 disease will boost its attractiveness as a tourist destination this summer, particularly for Arabs and Lebanese expatriates.

Allowing flights to land in its international airport for the first time in more than three months means that Lebanon could face a hike in coronavirus cases.

Dr. Abdul Rahman Bizri, an infectious disease specialist and member of the emergency committee on coronavirus, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the opening of the airport is essential because several sectors are hinging on the return of tourists to support the dire economic situation.

In addition to the mandatory guidelines set by the airport to restrict the spread of the virus, concerned authorities expect to have individual and social responsibility to avoid a second wave of the pandemic.

“There is an immense responsibility on individuals to respect preventive measures to stop the country from entering a difficult phase,” he said, adding that the medical team tasked with fighting the outbreak is more capable than ever to deal with the pandemic.

PCR tests have become more available, said Bizri.

The Lebanese Health Ministry announced Sunday 21 new coronavirus infections, which raises the total number of confirmed cases to 1,740.

With an aim to contain the spread of the virus among passengers, Middle East Airlines (MEA) released guidelines and conditions for travelers arriving in Beirut starting July 1.

Passengers will be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival and asked to go into home quarantine if testing positive.

Social distancing signs were placed on the airport’s floor. Also, any passenger showing coronavirus symptoms is prohibited from boarding a plane to Lebanon.

Economy class passengers are not permitted to keep carry-ons in the cabin, while business passengers are allowed to do so, provided the luggage compartment marks them on check-in.



Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused “violent explosions” around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa countryside.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before.

“Until now, it’s just a Telegram channel. It’s not known if it is a real group,” said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed factions in southern Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Israel considers “the Syrian president directly responsible for every threat and firing toward the State of Israel” and warned of a “full response” to come “as soon as possible.”

Israel has been suspicious of the former opposition fighters who formed the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syria and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory since Assad’s fall.

Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run TV channel that it has “not yet verified the accuracy” of the reports of strikes launched from Syria toward Israel.

“We affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region,” the statement said. It condemned the Israeli shelling, which it said had resulted in “significant human and material losses.”

The US, which has warmed to al-Sharaa's government and recently moved to lift some sanctions previously imposed on Syria, has pushed for Syria to normalize relations with Israel.

In a recent interview with the Jewish Journal, al-Sharaa said he wants to see a return to a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries but stopped short of proposing immediate normalization, saying that “peace must be earned through mutual respect, not fear.”