US President Donald Trump said he directed his administration to allow all American airlines to operate direct flights to Lebanon, following his meeting with Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun.

US flights were suspended in 1985 after the hijacking of a TWA aircraft during flight 847 from Athens to Rome and forcing it to land in Beirut. A US Navy diver was brutally killed during that 17-day crisis.

Trump ordered the Transportation Department to lift a ban on air services for transporting US passengers to Venezuela in January, after the United States arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military operation earlier that month.

Service resumed in late April after seven years with an American Airlines flight from Miami to Caracas.

The Federal Aviation Administration or the Transportation Department have not commented yet.

Discuss the news with AI