Lebanon's Middle East Airlines reschedules flights due to 'technical reasons'

By Gizem Nisa Cebi

ISTANBUL (AA) - Middle East Airlines (MEA) announced on Sunday that flights scheduled to arrive in Beirut on the evening of July 28 will now be arriving on the morning of July 29.

Middle East Airlines (MEA) announced further changes to its flight schedule in a statement on its website with the title of "Rescheduling of some of MEA Flights for 29 July 2024."

MEA is the national airline of Lebanon headquartered in Beirut, and operates flights to various destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and beyond.

According to MEA, this follows previous adjustments made to flight arrivals in Beirut on 28/29 July due to technical issues related to the distribution of insurance risks for aircraft between Lebanon and other destinations.

The airline specified that these changes are necessary to address the technical reasons that impacted their operations.

MEA has yet to provide additional details on the specific flights affected or the nature of the technical issues.

Earlier, the US, UK and France Sunday issued a security alert for their citizens, advising them not to travel to Lebanon, citing potential disruptions in air travel due to heightened regional tensions.

Tension in the region escalated after the Israeli army Sunday presented the government with scenarios for a possible attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah following a missile attack that killed 12 people in Israel-occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli media on Sunday.

While Israel has blamed Hezbollah for Saturday’s attack in the town of Majdal Shams, the Lebanese group denied any responsibility.

According to Israel’s Army Radio, the military formulated scenarios for a potential attack on Hezbollah and placed them on the table for political-level discussions to assess the situation.

Discussions took up the possibility of “undertaking more severe military action” in Lebanon, the broadcaster said.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Hezbollah will "pay a heavy price" for the missile attack.

Fears have grown about a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between the two sides. The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed more than 39,300 victims since October, following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.