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.



France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
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France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)

France’s foreign minister underlined his country’s role in brokering an agreement that ended fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group alongside the US, saying the deal wouldn’t have been possible without France’s special relationship with its former protectorate.

“It’s a success for French diplomacy and we can be proud,” said the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking hours after the ceasefire went into effect Wednesday.

“It is true that the United States have a privileged relationship with Israel. But with Lebanon, it’s France that has very old ties, very close ties,” the minister added. “It would not have been possible to envisage a ceasefire in Lebanon without France being involved on the front line.”

France will be involved in monitoring the ceasefire, Barrot noted, with 700 French soldiers deployed as part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, that has been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years.

The minister said France will also work to strengthen Lebanese troops that will deploy in the south of the country as part of the ceasefire, although he didn’t specify what that might include.