Lebanon's Minister of Transport, Fayez Rassamny, assured Saturday that Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport is operating normally and that national carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) continues to fly « normally », according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA).
Reaching the airport is far from risk-free © Mena Today
Lebanon's Minister of Transport, Fayez Rassamny, assured Saturday that Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport is operating normally and that national carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) continues to fly « normally », according to Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA).
The reassurance, however, tells only part of the story.
MEA is now virtually the only airline still serving Beirut, as foreign carriers have suspended their flights one by one - some on a day-by-day basis, others for defined periods - in the shadow of the US-Israeli war against Iran and the ongoing conflict engulfing the region.
The airport's continued operation comes with an uncomfortable geographical reality: the only express road connecting central Beirut to the airport runs alongside the southern suburbs, Hezbollah's stronghold and one of the most heavily targeted areas in Israeli strikes.
Every passenger, every crew member, every flight that lands or departs Beirut does so within earshot - and eyesight - of an active war zone.
That Middle East Airlines continues to fly under these conditions is either an act of remarkable resilience or extraordinary risk, possibly both.
For Lebanon, a country already on the edge, keeping its airport open is not just a logistical necessity. It is the last lifeline connecting a besieged nation to the outside world.
A high-level Iranian team departed for Switzerland on Saturday for talks with the United States, Iranian state media reported, while U.S. Vice President JD Vance indicated he would set off soon for meetings that Pakistan said will begin on Sunday.
There are mistakes, and then there are betrayals dressed up as diplomacy. Donald Trump's memorandum of understanding with Iran - one that folds Lebanon into a ceasefire framework between Israel and Hezbollah - belongs firmly in the second category.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Saturday he expects to go to Switzerland soon for talks with Iran, even as Tehran's high command was reported as saying it would shut the Strait of Hormuz due to what it called U.S. and Israeli truce violations.
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