US Welcomes Resumption of Flights Between Egypt, Libya

An EgyptAir plane lands at Mitiga Airport on Wednesday. (Mitiga Airport)
An EgyptAir plane lands at Mitiga Airport on Wednesday. (Mitiga Airport)
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US Welcomes Resumption of Flights Between Egypt, Libya

An EgyptAir plane lands at Mitiga Airport on Wednesday. (Mitiga Airport)
An EgyptAir plane lands at Mitiga Airport on Wednesday. (Mitiga Airport)

The US welcomed the resumption of direct flights between Tripoli and Cairo, which followed similar agreements with other regional capitals.

“The United States welcomes the resumption of direct passenger flights between Tripoli and Egypt following similar agreements with other regional capitals,” the US embassy in Libya tweeted.

“We encourage and support all efforts toward facilitating safe travel and Libya’s reintegration into the regional economy.”

An EgyptAir plane landed at the Mitiga Airport in Tripoli, after a seven-year suspension.

Director General of Mitiga airport Lotfi Tabib told local media that EgyptAir will operate three flights per week between the facility and Cairo International Airport.

Tabib said this is the third regional airline to resume flights to Libya after National carrier Tunisair and Tunisair Express, which restarted flights to Tripoli in 2021.

International airlines had suspended flights to Libyan airports with the eruption of the conflict in mid-2014 that led to a sharp political division.

Airports were not spared the fighting.

Tripoli International Airport was completely destroyed and security unrest is still hampering efforts to reopen it.

In remarks to the dpa, Tabib called on all foreign airlines to resume flights to and from Libya.

He stressed that Mitiga airport is applying all the security measures in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s recommendations.



UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)

The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.

"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.

US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

The UN has said it had fired nine UNRWA staff who may have been involved and said it would investigate all accusations made.

Klaus said that UNRWA Lebanon had also placed four staff members on administrative leave as it investigated allegations they had breached the UN principle of neutrality.

One UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year and a Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September in an Israeli strike - was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Klaus also said there was "no direct impact" on the agency's Lebanon operations from a new Israeli law banning UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and that "UNRWA will continue fully operating in Lebanon."

The law, adopted in October, bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities from Jan. 30.

UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Its commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that UNRWA has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization."