Spain to Help Citizens Stranded by Morocco Flight Ban

Passengers wait for news about their flights at Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport, which suspended flights due to heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, January 9. Reuters
Passengers wait for news about their flights at Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport, which suspended flights due to heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, January 9. Reuters
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Spain to Help Citizens Stranded by Morocco Flight Ban

Passengers wait for news about their flights at Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport, which suspended flights due to heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, January 9. Reuters
Passengers wait for news about their flights at Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport, which suspended flights due to heavy snowfall in Madrid, Spain, January 9. Reuters

Madrid said Wednesday it was working to help repatriate some 3,000 Spanish tourists who are stranded in Morocco after it suddenly imposed a blockade on passenger flights to Spain because of the pandemic.

The Moroccan government announced on Monday that all passenger flights to and from Spain and France would be suspended from midnight Tuesday to contain the spread of the virus.

"This is another example of how we have to be extremely responsible with our trips at this moment," Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told Onda Cero radio.

"At a time of so much uncertainty at borders and regarding rules to enter other countries, it is best to abstain from travel, that is what is most prudent," she was quoted as saying by AFP.

The government is looking into ways to help Spaniards who are affected by the flight ban to get home, the minister added, without giving details.

The flights ban comes during Easter week, a peak travel period in Spain as Thursday and Friday are holidays in much of the country.

Morocco is one of Africa's most popular tourist destinations, welcoming 13 million foreign tourists in 2019, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.



Syrian Government Denies its Forces Preparing to Redeploy to Sweida

FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
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Syrian Government Denies its Forces Preparing to Redeploy to Sweida

FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo

Syria's interior ministry spokesperson said on Friday that government forces were not preparing to deploy to Sweida Province, the state news agency reported.

Noureddin al-Baba denied a Reuters report citing an interior ministry media officer as saying security forces were preparing to redeploy to Druze-majority Sweida city to quell fighting involving Bedouin tribes and the Druze.

A fragile truce was holding in Syria's south on Friday after a ceasefire announced on Wednesday briefly ended days of fighting that began when Bedouin and Druze fighters clashed in Sweida province in southern Syria, prompting the Syrian government to send in troops.

Syrian troops withdrew from Sweida after the truce was announced but clashes resumed late on Thursday.

Israel's military carried out new attacks in Sweida province overnight.

Israel has said it would not allow Syria's government to deploy troops to the south.