UAE's Air Arabia to resume flights to Iraq after Iran-Israel truce
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Air Arabia, a low-cost carrier located in Sharjah, the UAE, will resume flights to neighboring countries, including Iraq, on July 1, following the reopening of regional airspace after Iran and Israel's 12-day battle.
The carrier confirmed the gradual resumption of previously stopped flights as regional airspaces have been reopened following a ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel, according to Gulf News.
The airline will resume flight operations to Iraqi destinations, including Baghdad, Erbil, and Basra.
Air Arabia will also restart flights to Iran, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
Iraqi Airways resumed flights on Wednesday, a day after Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement following a 12-day conflict in which Tel Aviv and Tehran exchanged missile and drone raids.
After Israel struck Iran on June 13, claiming that its goal was to prevent the country from getting nuclear weapons, airlines continued to avoid huge sections of the Middle East.
This avoidance was due to continuous missile clashes between Israel and Iran, the most recent interruption in the region.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Shafaq News
5 hours ago
- Shafaq News
Iraq signs $118M F-16 support deal with US firm vectrus
Shafaq News - Baghdad Iraq has signed a $118M defense contract with Vectrus Systems to support its fleet of F-16 fighter jets. The deal is fully funded by the Iraqi government, which has already made an initial payment of nearly $58M, the US-based defense outlet Defense Industry Europe reported on Thursday. The US Department of Defense announced 'a contract award to Vectrus Systems Corporation to provide operational support for the Iraqi Air Force's fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter aircraft.' Vectrus will provide support services at Iraq's Martyr Ali Flaih Air Base through November 2026. The Iraqi Air Force currently operates 34 F-16C/Ds, but remains heavily reliant on American contractors for maintenance and logistics. This dependence was highlighted in 2020 when US personnel withdrew amid tensions between Baghdad and Washington, causing the number of mission-ready F-16s to plummet from 20 to just five. Operational capability improved significantly after US specialists returned to Balad Air Base in September 2020. Iraq originally ordered 36 F-16 Block 52+ fighters under two FMS contracts between 2014 and 2017, losing two in training crashes in the US.
Shafaq News
5 hours ago
- Shafaq News
Iraqi ISIS suspect tied to Damascus church bombing
Shafaq News – Damascus One of the suspects arrested in connection with the suicide bombing at Mar Elias Church in Damascus is an Iraqi national who previously resided in al-Hol camp, the Syrian daily al-Watan reported on Thursday. The newspaper said it had obtained internal documents from the distribution of heating fuel in the camp, located in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province near the Iraqi border. Among the listed recipients of humanitarian aid provided by the NGO Blumont in November 2023 was a man named Kinan Ali bin Ramadan, identified as an Iraqi citizen and resident of al-Hol. His name appeared as number 15 on the aid list and, according to the report, matches one of the individuals recently detained by Syria's Interior Ministry for alleged involvement in the bombing—an attack attributed to an ISIS-affiliated cell. The revelation contradicted a statement issued a day earlier by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who rejected claims that the attackers came from al-Hol. 'The statements made by the ministry's spokesperson regarding suicide bombers coming from al-Hol are inaccurate and lack factual basis,' the SDF said. The group added that its own investigation found no unauthorized exits from the camp during the time in question, aside from Syrian nationals transferred at Damascus' request and Iraqi nationals repatriated through formal coordination with Baghdad. The SDF also stressed that al-Hol camp houses mostly women and children from families affiliated with ISIS and does not contain foreign combatants—casting doubt, they said, on the claim that non-Syrian suicide bombers could have emerged from within its confines. In a press briefing earlier this week, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba said Syrian security forces had dismantled the ISIS cell responsible for the Mar Elias bombing and prevented a second planned attack targeting the Sayyida Zainab shrine, a key Shiite pilgrimage site south of Damascus. According to al-Baba, the cell was led by Mohammed Abdul Ilah al-Jumaili, known by his nom de guerre Abu Imad al-Jumaili and referred to within ISIS ranks as Wali al-Sahra (Governor of the Desert). He was reportedly based in al-Hajar al-Aswad district, south of the capital. The ministry said al-Jumaili facilitated the infiltration of two non-Syrian suicide bombers into Damascus from al-Hol, exploiting what it described as "security gaps" in the vast desert areas of central Syria.
Iraqi News
5 hours ago
- Iraqi News
US Excelerate Energy seeks to equip Iraq with LNG import station
A senior Iraqi official told Bloomberg that US-based Excelerate Energy is one of the bidders in a tender to set up a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import station in southern Iraq. The acting director of Iraq's South Gas Company (SGC), Ali Salman, told Bloomberg that the Iraqi government, which seeks to reduce its reliance on Iranian gas to generate electricity, is in advanced negotiations with the US firm for an LNG import terminal at the Khor Al-Zubair port near Basra. Iraq has always relied on Iran for natural gas and energy supplies. Despite being a large oil producer, Iraq has historically seen high volumes of associated gas flared rather than captured. Iraq frequently experiences frequent outages during the summer months, when electricity consumption is the highest, due to Iran's unpredictable and inadequate gas and power supplies. In February, SGC's director Hamza Abdel-Baqi stated that Iraq will award a contract for the construction of a gas platform and pipelines that connect the facility with onshore pipelines to facilitate the delivery of gas to power plants in southern Iraq. To satisfy the demands of the country's power plants, the Iraqi government is constantly working to get gas supplies from countries other than Iran, in addition to its ongoing efforts to become self-sufficient in gas. Last October, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity and Turkmenistan reached an agreement to provide Iraq with up to 20 million cubic meters of gas each day. As previously stated by Iraq's Electricity Minister Ziyad Ali Fadel, the arrangement will assist in guaranteeing that Iraq's gas-fired power plants receive the necessary fuel.
