Turkish Airlines Resumes Flights to Libya After 10-year Hiatus

A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)
A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)
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Turkish Airlines Resumes Flights to Libya After 10-year Hiatus

A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)
A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)

The Turkish Airlines launched on Thursday its first flight to Mitiga International Airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli, after a 10-year hiatus.
The Arab World Press said the announcement came on “Hakomitna,” the media platform of the interim Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Last week, Dbeibah said the Turkish Airlines would resume its flights to Libya after a hiatus of about ten years. He considered the return of Turkish flights as “an additional indicator of strengthening the state of stability in all its forms despite the challenges.”
“Alhamdulillah, Turkish Airlines will resume flights to Libya from next week after an absence of nearly 10 years,” Dbeibah wrote on his social media account last Saturday.
He then praised the efforts of the transportation and civil aviation sector, and everyone who contributed to facilitating air transport movement, as well as achieving the technical requirements for the return of major companies to the country.
Turkish Airlines' General Manager Bilal Ekşi announced in a press conference that the company would fly three flights per week to Mitiga Airport in the Libyan capital.

 

 



Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Israel retains the right to resume war in Gaza with US backing should the second stage of the ceasefire prove pointless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

"If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile," he said.

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT), mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
The prime minister had warned earlier that a ceasefire wouldn’t go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as had been agreed.

The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group — and comes more than a year after the only other ceasefire achieved. The deal was achieved under joint pressure from Trump and the outgoing administration of President Biden ahead of Monday's inauguration.
The first phase of the ceasefire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel’s security Cabinet will decide how to proceed.
Israeli airstrikes continued Saturday, and Gaza's Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.