Qatar Airways to resume flights to Beirut

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Qatar Airways announced Sunday that it would resume flights to Beirut. The national carrier of Qatar said in a statement that it received approval from Lebanese authorities to operate a daily flight from Doha to Beirut starting Monday. "This development comes after a series of discussions the company had with Lebanese authorities to alleviate the suffering of travelers to and from Lebanon," the airline said. Israel said it did not know of any official request from Qatar Airways, but the airline would be welcome to resume flights into Beirut as long as this was done in coordination with Israeli authorities. Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, denied that Israel was enforcing a "blockade" of Lebanon, noting that airplanes and ships were entering and leaving Lebanon daily with Israeli permission.