Trump Directs Return of U.S.-Lebanon Flights After Four-Decade Halt

President Donald Trump directed his administration to permit all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon, reopening a route suspended for more than four decades. The decision followed his White House meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, and Trump did not specify when service would begin. Direct flights were halted in 1985 after Hezbollah hijacked TWA Flight 847. The announcement comes as Washington backs an Israel-Lebanon framework under which Lebanese state forces are to assume control in the south, Hezbollah is to disarm, and Israeli forces adjust their posture, while Aoun seeks U.S. support for the Lebanese army and reconstruction.