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.



Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A building in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahieh was struck on Sunday almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the area.

The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, earlier said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighborhood and move "at least 300 meters away.”

Residents reported hearing gunfire across the area, which they said they believed was intended to warn people to leave, as well as seeing a massive traffic jam on roads leading from the area.

"To everyone located in the building marked in red on the attached map, and the surrounding buildings: you are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote in a post that included a map of the potential targets.

The Israeli army said the building was being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
"Israel's continued actions in undermining stability will exacerbate tensions and place the region at real risk, threatening its security and stability," he said in a statement.

Earlier this month an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, in Beirut's southern suburbs -the second Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days.