Lebanon’s MEA delays some Beirut flight arrivals to Monday morning

Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA) said on Sunday it had delayed the departures of some incoming flights set to land in Beirut overnight to arrive on Monday morning instead.

Israel vowed swift retaliation against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after 12 children and teenagers were killed by a rocket in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. Hezbollah denied responsibility.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading fire for nearly 10 months in parallel with the Gaza War, which has spread to several fronts across the region. Previous exchanges of fire have disrupted flights across the region.

MEA said in a statement that six flights incoming to Beirut overnight from London, Copenhagen and four other cities in the Middle East would be delayed so that they would instead take off on Monday morning.

MEA chairman Mohamad El-Hout told local broadcaster Al-Jadeed that the flight changes at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport were due to “insurance risks”.

“We’re not afraid that the airport will be hit, nor do we have any information in that regard. If we were scared, we wouldn’t have left any flights (operating),” he said.

Beirut airport was hit early in the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Passengers were still landing at the airport late on Sunday afternoon, according to a Reuters photographer. People were frantically checking indicator boards to see if more flights would be cancelled or delayed.