US to Resume Direct Flights to Lebanon

Washington - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration will allow US airlines to resume direct flights to Lebanon, ending a suspension that has been in place for more than four decades. “I am instructing my administration to allow all US airlines to fly directly to Lebanon so that American citizens can easily visit this beautiful country,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House the same day. Commercial direct flights between the US and Lebanon were suspended in 1985 under the leadership of then-President Ronald Reagan. The suspension was a response to the hijacking of TWA Flight 847, during which militants linked to Hezbollah held 153 passengers and crew hostage for 17 days and killed US Navy diver Robert Stethem. Aoun is the first Lebanese head of state to visit the White House since 2009.