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Russia Increases Flights to Egypt

A traveler passes through an automatic disinfection booth at the entrance to the seaport of Egypt's southern Red Sea resort city, Hurghada, on June 19, 2020, while security measures are in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic (AFP/KHALED DESOUKI)
A traveler passes through an automatic disinfection booth at the entrance to the seaport of Egypt's southern Red Sea resort city, Hurghada, on June 19, 2020, while security measures are in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic (AFP/KHALED DESOUKI)
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Russia Increases Flights to Egypt

A traveler passes through an automatic disinfection booth at the entrance to the seaport of Egypt's southern Red Sea resort city, Hurghada, on June 19, 2020, while security measures are in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic (AFP/KHALED DESOUKI)
A traveler passes through an automatic disinfection booth at the entrance to the seaport of Egypt's southern Red Sea resort city, Hurghada, on June 19, 2020, while security measures are in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic (AFP/KHALED DESOUKI)

Russia announced Friday it would resume international regular flights starting February 8, and up the number of its flights to Egypt.

“From February 8, flights will resume from international airports in Astrakhan, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm and Khabarovsk,” Egypt’s official news agency, MENA, reported.

It said the headquarters of combating the coronavirus in Russia decided that as of February 8, the number of regular flights to Egypt from these Russian airports will be increased at a rate of no more than one flight per week from each airport.

A Russian delegation of security and aviation experts visited Egypt on Thursday to inspect the latest security procedures at the Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh airports and the process for the resumption of regular charter flights from Russia to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts.

An informed source said the Russian delegation would remain in the country until Feb. 3 to inspect all measures inside departure and arrival halls, alongside procedures for securing bags and travelers and ensuring the presence of security personnel in their assigned spots.

Moscow halted civilian air traffic to Egypt in 2015 after militants detonated a bomb on a Russian Metrojet flight leaving the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing 224 people on board.

In April 2018, Russia’s biggest airline Aeroflot said it would restart flights to Cairo.

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Arab World

Lebanese and Palestinians Leaders Agree That Lebanon Won’t Be Used as a Launchpad to Strike Israel

This handout picture released by the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas at the Baabda presidential palace, east of the capital Beirut, on May 21, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency / Handout / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas at the Baabda presidential palace, east of the capital Beirut, on May 21, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency / Handout / AFP)
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Lebanese and Palestinians Leaders Agree That Lebanon Won’t Be Used as a Launchpad to Strike Israel

This handout picture released by the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas at the Baabda presidential palace, east of the capital Beirut, on May 21, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency / Handout / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese presidency shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) welcoming his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas at the Baabda presidential palace, east of the capital Beirut, on May 21, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency / Handout / AFP)

The Lebanese and Palestinian presidents agreed Wednesday that Palestinian factions won't use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren't under the authority of the Lebanese state.

The announcement was made during a meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived earlier in the day beginning a three-day visit to Lebanon, his first in seven years.

Lebanon's government is seeking to establish authority throughout the country, mainly in the south near the border with Israel after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

The 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon aren't under the control of the Lebanese state, and Palestinian factions in the camps have different types of weapons. Rival groups have clashed inside the camps in recent years, inflicting casualties and affecting nearby areas.

It wasn't immediately clear how the weapons would be removed from the camps, which are home to tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them descendants of families that fled to Lebanon after Israel was created in 1948.

Abbas' Fatah movement and the Hamas group are the main factions in the camps. Smaller groups also have a presence in the camps — mainly in Ein el-Hilweh, which is Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp and located near the southern port city of Sidon.

A joint statement read by the Lebanese presidency's spokeswoman, Najat Sharafeddine, said that both sides have agreed that weapons should only be with the Lebanese state, and the existence of “weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended.”

The statement said that both sides have agreed that Palestinian camps in Lebanon aren't “safe havens for extremist groups.” It added that “the Palestinian side confirms its commitment of not using Lebanese territories to launch any military operations.”

In late March, Israel intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon in response to Hamas allegedly firing rockets at northern Israel from southern Lebanon.

Shortly after the wave of airstrikes, the Lebanese government for the first time called out the Palestinian group and arrested nearly 10 suspects involved in the operation. Hamas was pressured by the military to turn in three of their gunmen from different refugee camps.

The nearly 400,000 Palestinians in Lebanon are prohibited from working in many professional jobs, have few legal protections and can't own property.