facility:baghdad airport

#Baghdad airport official arrested after refusing Lebanese #flight
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/baghdad-airport-official-arrested-after-refusing-lebanese-flight

The deputy head of Baghdad airport was arrested after a Lebanese airliner that left Beirut without the Iraqi transport minister’s son was ordered mid-flight to turn back, the premier’s spokesman said Friday. Samer “Kubba was arrested... because his action was wrong and harmful to the prestige of the Iraqi state,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s spokesman Ali Mussawi told AFP. It was unclear what role Kubba, who was arrested Thursday by troops reporting directly to Maliki, is thought to have played in the incident. read more

#Iraq #Lebanon #MEA #Top_News

Two rockets strike #Baghdad airport
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/two-rockets-strike-baghdad-airport

Two rockets hit the Baghdad airport complex on Friday but did not cause any damage or casualties, the head of the Iraqi civil aviation authority said. The attack on the international airport came a day after militants briefly occupied a building housing a transport ministry state-owned company and took hostages. It comes amid a protracted surge in nationwide violence that has sparked fears that #Iraq is slipping back into all-out conflict. “Two missiles dropped on Baghdad airport at about 6:30 am (0330 GMT),” civil aviation authority chief Captain Nasser Bander told AFP. read more

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#UN chief presses for “social cohesion” during #Iraq visit
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/un-chief-presses-social-cohesion-during-iraq-visit

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/987092-01-08.jpg

United Nations Secretary-General #Ban_Ki-Moon waves as he disembarks his plane at #Baghdad airport on January 13, 2014 upon the latter’s arrival for a two-day visit to Iraq. (Photo: AFP - Hadi Mizban) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon waves as he disembarks his plane at Baghdad airport on January 13, 2014 upon the latter’s arrival for a two-day visit to Iraq. (Photo: AFP - Hadi Mizban)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Monday for Iraqi leaders to address the “root causes” of a surge in bloodshed as security forces clashed with gunmen in violence-wracked #Anbar province. The UN chief’s visit comes just months ahead of general elections but with the country hit by its worst spate of unrest since 2008 and (...)

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