President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the US would allow direct flights to Lebanon.
This comes more than 40 years after the US suspended direct flights between the two countries in the wake of the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 during the administration of US President Ronald Reagan.
“I am directing my administration to allow all American airlines to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily travel to this beautiful country,” Trump said in a post on his Truth social platform.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salaam praised Trump’s announcement. Salam said it “represents an important opportunity to increase travel and connectivity between Lebanon and the United States and support the Lebanese economy.”
What did Trump say on the resumption of direct flights between America and Lebanon?
The announcement comes after Trump hosted Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the White House on Tuesday.
During that meeting, Trump told Aoun that Lebanon “has been treated very badly and we will treat it fairly and give it the respect it deserves.”
“We are going to help a lot with this,” he said without giving specific details.
Lebanon appeals to US, Trump for help in ensuring lasting peace
Washington has been brokering rare talks between Israel and Lebanon, but has been distracted in recent weeks by the resumption of full-scale hostilities between the US and Iran.
Aoun, who was making the first visit to the U.S. capital by a Lebanese president since 2009, had traveled to Washington, D.C., to appeal for a long-term, more stable peace in his country, which has been plagued by months of war between Israel and the Iran-backed, Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah.
In addition to the resumption of direct flights between the US and Lebanon, officials in Beirut will be hoping that this week’s talks in Washington will lead to an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, where Israeli ground forces have captured several areas as part of their campaign against Hezbollah.
Trump claimed that Israel’s forces “were in the process of doing that. They’re in the process of redeploying,” he said, without elaborating.
Israel is occupying southern Lebanon in what it says is an effort to protect northern Israeli communities from attacks by Hezbollah. Israel, along with the US, Germany and some other countries, recognizes Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
Aon calls Trump a ‘great president’
Aoun, for his part, praised Trump, whom he called a “great president” whose “vision is peace.”
“I agree with that,” Trump jokingly responded, calling Aoun beautiful and someone who “knows how to get through to me.”
“Now they can have anything,” Trump said.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery
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