DAMASCUS: Syria’s transport ministry says Iraqi Airways flights to Damascus expected for the first time since the war erupted in 2011 have been postponed indefinitely.
The ministry says the two flights scheduled for Saturday were postponed because of administrative issues between the Syrian Civil Aviation and Iraqi Airways.
It gave no further details. The delay was relayed by the Iraqi embassy.
Iraqi Airways announced Thursday it would resume flights, making it the first international company to announce plans to return to Damascus International Airport, beset for years by war and blockade.
Only Syrian Airlines remained operative at the airport, organizing some international flights.
Syria approved in April a request from Qatar Airways to fly through Syrian airspace. Airlines have avoided Syrian airspace since the war broke out, causing long detours.

Yemeni national army recaptured a key district from the Houthi militia in the southern province of Dhale, the official site of the Defence Ministry reported on Friday.

With the support of the Security Belt forces, the army liberated several villages in the province, including the key district of Qataba.

Lt. Col. Abdo Ali Al-Qadi, an officer of the 83th Brigade, told September Net that army forces launched their attack at dawn on Friday in Qataba, causing the militia to flee in the direction of Ibb province in the west.

At least 80 Houthi militiamen were killed in the clashes, including Houthi Commander Mohammed Al-Senhani.

The army also recovered large quantities of various weapons and ammunition.

BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan officials say Daesh militants have killed at least three troops in an attack on a checkpoint in a desert town.
A statement by the self-styled Libyan National Army said the militants captured four soldiers in the attack at the town of Zallah Saturday, but troops were able to free three of them.
The Daesh group claimed the attack.
The extremist group expanded its reach in Libya after the country was plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed Muammar Qaddafi.
Zallah is about 750 kilometers (466 miles) southeast of the capital, Tripoli, where Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s LNA forces are currently fighting to take control of the city from militias affiliated with a weak UN-supported government.

BEIRUT: Loud blasts echoed across Damascus late on Friday, residents said, as Syrian state media reported “enemy targets” coming from the direction of Israel, which has previously acknowledged conducting repeated strikes inside Syria.
Syrian air defences detected objects coming from the direction of “occupied territory” and brought down several, Syrian state television reported a military source as saying.
The state television channel showed footage of the night sky with a point of light firing up into it and the sound of shooting. It did not immediately report casualties or material damage.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, but it has been increasingly open in recent months about targeting sites in Syria that it says are connected to Damascus’ close allies Iran and Hezbollah.
Israel regards Iran as its biggest threat and the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah as the biggest threat on its border.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the blasts were caused by Israeli rocket fire targeting areas around the Syrian capital.

WASHINGTON: The United States is “sitting by the phone” but has heard no message yet from Iran that it is willing to accept President Donald Trump’s overtures for direct talks, a senior Trump administration official said on Friday.
“We think they should de-escalate and come to negotiations,” the official told a small group of reporters.