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EgyptAir Resumes Flights to Benghazi

An EgyptAir plane (Asharq Al-Awsat)
An EgyptAir plane (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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EgyptAir Resumes Flights to Benghazi

An EgyptAir plane (Asharq Al-Awsat)
An EgyptAir plane (Asharq Al-Awsat)

EgyptAir announced that it would operate daily direct flights between Cairo and the Libyan city of Benghazi starting on 18 April this year, after an 11-year suspension due to the deteriorating security situation following the "revolution" that ousted the late President Muammar Gaddafi.

The Libyan authorities allowed the resumption of flights to Libya from Cairo International Airport after flights were limited to Burj al-Arab Airport in Alexandria.

The decision coincided with the visit of the Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity Abdelhamid Dbeibeh to Cairo, during which several agreements.

EgyptAir said in a statement that the flight to Benghazi is part of its keenness to boost its presence in Africa and in line with the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation's vision to bolster its presence in Africa.

A daily fight will be operated between Cairo and Benghazi via modern Boeing 737-800 aircraft, said the statement.

The company chairman, Amr Abu el-Enein, said the Egyptian flag carrier gives special importance to the strategic points, including Benghazi, to serve Egyptian expatriates and increase trade exchange between the two countries.

Abu el-Enien added that the airline would operate Boeing 737-800 flights between Cairo and Benghazi daily.

The company urged its clients to reserve their tickets by contacting its customer service center on 1717, accredited tour operators, or its website for reservations.

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US Drops $10 Million Reward for Syria’s al-Sharaa

US Drops $10 Million Reward for Syria’s al-Sharaa
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US Drops $10 Million Reward for Syria’s al-Sharaa

US Drops $10 Million Reward for Syria’s al-Sharaa

The Biden administration said Friday it has decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose group led fighters that ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier this month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between Ahmad al-Sharaa and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster.

Al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, remains designated a foreign terrorist organization, and Leaf would not say if sanctions stemming from that designation would be eased.

However, she told reporters that Sharaa had committed to renouncing terrorism and as a result the US would no longer offer the reward.
Leaf said the US would make policy decisions based on actions and not words.

"It was a good first meeting. We will judge by the deeds, not just by words," Leaf said in a briefing and added that the US officials reiterated that Syria's new government should be inclusive. It should also ensure that terrorist groups cannot pose a threat, she said.

"Ahmed al-Sharaa committed to this," Leaf said. "So, based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing rewards for justice," she said, referring to a $10 million bounty that U.S. had put on the HTS leader's head.

The US delegation also worked to uncover new information about US journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in 2012, and other American citizens who went missing under Assad.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, who was part of the delegation, said Washington would work with Syria's interim authorities to find Tice.

Carstens, who has been in the region since Assad's fall, said he has received a lot of information about Tice, but none of it had so far confirmed his fate one way or another.