Lebanese Breathe Sigh of Relief As Airport, Highways Reopen The Daily Star

Text of report in English by privately-owned Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star website on 16 May

["Lebanese Breathe Sighs of Relief as Airport, Highways Reopen" - The Daily Star Headline]

BEIRUT: Beirut’s airport resumed activity Thursday after commercial

airlines including Lebanon’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), had

stopped flights in and out of the capital in response to the opposition’s

blockage of access roads leading to the country’s only international airport.

Efforts to clear roads leading to the airport using bulldozers began at

approximately 6:35 p.m. as the Arab League ministerial committee for Lebanon

announced a six-point settlement among feuding parties.

The 7:00 p.m. arrival of an MEA aircraft from Larnaca, Cyprus, was the first

commercial flight to arrive in Beirut since the onset of clashes between

opposition and government supporters last week. MEA released a statement

Thursday saying service from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jedda, Amman, Cairo, and

Larnaca will be resumed.

In an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, MEA chairman

Mohammad Hout said the week-long shutdown caused more than financial damage,

adding that “there was a material and motivational setback that we, with the

help of all Lebanese, hope to recover from soon.”

“In any case,” Hout added, “since roads are being cleared, it appears that

citizens travelling to and from the airport will not be inconvenienced.”

Hout told The Daily Star in a telephone interview that “resumption of normal

activity should begin at (Rafik Hariri International Airport) at midnight

(Thursday).”

The reopening of the main highway leading to the airport comes as part of a

broader opposition pledge, in adherence with the outlined agreement, to move

towards the status quo that existed on the ground before the eruption of

violence last Wednesday.

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, Shaykh Naim Qassem, had announced earlier

in the day that “the Cabinet’s reversal of the two decisions is a natural step

to return things to the way they were before (the fighting).”

In addition to Lebanon’s gateway to the skies, the Port of Beirut, which had

also been shut down as a result of the fighting this past week, will resume

normal functioning as of Friday morning.

Although most land routes in and around the capital were opened by the

opposition in the wake of the much-publicized Arab League settlement, several

key roads leading to the centre of Beirut remained blocked as of late Thursday

evening.

In the Bekaa Valley, a Daily Star correspondent reported Thursday that the

removal of pro-government roadblocks set up at the Masnaa border crossing, the

main passage between Lebanon and Syria, got under way soon after the

opposition’s move to open airport access roads had been confirmed.

With several Leabnese leaders heading to Qatar on Friday in an attempt to

hammer out a resolution to the prolonged political stalemate, vital trade and

transportation routes throughout the country apparently are expected to be

reopened.

Originally published by The Daily Star website, Beirut, in English 16 May 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.