BEIRUT: After narrowly escaping Zionist entity air strikes, Lebanese mother Tanaz Agha shared a picture taken from her plane window as she flew out of Beirut. "Proud to be a Lebanese who can travel on my national airline in a time of war,” the 46-year-old says she told her friends on social media.
As Zionist entity ramped up air strikes against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah two weeks ago, most airlines stopped flying to the country. National carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) remains the only carrier still serving Beirut despite the mounting risks and past hits on the runways. Agha and her daughters, aged 11 and 13, were on their way to the airport when a Zionist entity air strike pounded the capital’s adjacent southern suburbs on September 27, killing Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah.
The ordeal left her deeply shaken. It "was an extremely horrifying experience”, said Agha, adding she had expected to find the departure lounge in chaos. But instead airport employees comforted her when she broke down in tears. "Most of the staff have family in those areas. You could hear them receiving calls. You could see their eyes full of tears,” she said.
As her plane took off for Cyprus, Agha snapped a picture of the Lebanese cedar on the airplane’s winglet and declared her admiration on social media. "That same airplane will bring that same crew back into a war zone in a few hours,” she said. "What a nation, what a people, what an airline.”
Agha is just one of many Lebanese singing the praises of the company. "MEA is the most badass airline on the planet,” one social media user wrote recently. The escalation over the past fortnight has killed more than 1,100 people, wounded over 3,800 and displaced more than one million, according to official figures. Despite the risks, MEA aircraft continue to land and take off, as seen in AFP’s live video feed of the southern suburbs. — AFP
picture shared online shows a Zionist entity strike from a plane window. On flight into Beirut on Tuesday, a handful of anxious travelers repeatedly sought reassurances from the cabin crew that they would make it safely, an AFP journalist said. As the dangers increase, the Lebanese government last week said it would cover the cost of the insurance so that flights in and out could continue. — AFP