Iran Air Cancels Flights to Beirut until Further Notice

An IranAir Airbus A320 passengers aircraft taxis after landing at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo
An IranAir Airbus A320 passengers aircraft taxis after landing at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo
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Iran Air Cancels Flights to Beirut until Further Notice

An IranAir Airbus A320 passengers aircraft taxis after landing at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo
An IranAir Airbus A320 passengers aircraft taxis after landing at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo

Iran Air has cancelled all flights to Beirut until further notice, the airline's spokesman told local media including the Tasnim news agency on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, reports said Israel has breached the communication network of the control tower at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport and warned an Iranian plane against landing.

Also, a source at the ministry told Reuters that Lebanon's transport ministry asked an Iranian aircraft not to enter its airspace after Israel warned air traffic control at Beirut airport that it would use "force" if the plane landed.



Russia Condemns Israel's Killing of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
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Russia Condemns Israel's Killing of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo

Russia strongly condemns Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, calling on Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon.

"This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East," the ministry said in a statement.

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday Nasrallah had been killed, issuing a statement hours after the Israeli military said it had eliminated him in an airstrike on the group's headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.
Nasrallah's death marked a devastating blow to Hezbollah as it reels from an intense campaign of Israeli attacks, and even as the news emerged some of the group's supporters were desperately hoping that somehow he was still alive, Reuters reported.

"God, I hope it's not true. It's a disaster if it's true," said Zahraa, a young woman who had been displaced overnight from Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"He was leading us. He was everything to us. We were under his wings," she told Reuters tearfully by phone.
She said other displaced people around her fainted or began to scream when they received notifications on their phone of Hezbollah's statement confirming his death.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah since the group's previous leader was killed in an Israeli operation in 1992, was known for his televised addresses - watched carefully by both the group's backers and its opponents.
"We're still waiting for him to come out on the television at 5 p.m. and tell us that everything is okay, that we can go back home," Zahraa said.
In some parts of Beirut, armed men came into shops and told owners to shut them down, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what faction the armed men belonged to.
Sprays of gunshots were heard in the Hamra district in the city's west as mourners fired in the air, residents there said. Crowds were heard chanting, "For you, Nasrallah!"