Sweden halts flights to northern Iraq over ‘security fears’
Sweden has suspended all flights to the northern parts of Iraq, citing security concerns over intensified military activities in the troubled region.
In a statement published on its website on Friday, Sweden’s Transport Agency said that, as of Saturday, flights by Iraqi Airways and Air Zagros – which is operated by a subsidiary of Turkey’s AtlasGlobal – to the Iraqi cities of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah were canceled.
Erbil and Sulaymaniyah are both located in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Other flights between Sweden and northern Iraq, including those operated by German airline Germania, have also been halted, the statement added.
“We understand that our decisions affect those travelers who can no longer fly to and from northern Iraq. But we have to put passenger safety first,” said Simon Posluk, the head of the agency’s shipping and aviation facilities.
Commenting on the development, a representative for Air Zagros, whose name was not released in reports, confirmed the suspension of weekly flights between the Swedish capital city of Stockholm and Erbil until further notice.
Earlier this week, Iraq closed its northern airspace for two days due to military traffic from Russia’s missiles, launched from the Caspian Sea to target the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in Syria. Moscow began an anti-terror military campaign against the Takfiri groups operating in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government.
The crisis in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has killed more than 250,000 people so far and displaced almost half of the country’s population of about 23 million. The northern and western parts of neighboring Iraq have also been plagued by violence ever since Daesh began an offensive an offensive in Iraqi territory in June 2014.
Russia: Poland’s talks on hosting US nuclear weapons ‘dangerous’
‘Europe could die’, President Macron warns at Sorbonne University
European Parliament members criticize EU as 'accomplice’ in Israeli war on Gaza
April 25: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
Hezbollah hits Israeli military sites near border with rockets, drones
Rwandans say UK deportation 'another brutal manifestation of neo-colonialism'
US troops begin construction of controversial pier off Gaza
Israel ‘spoofs’ GPS signals, endangering flight safety amid Gaza war: Report
Iran urges Security Council to address 'belligerent' Israeli atrocities
VIDEO | Leader meets workers on Labor Week
French police called in to break up US-style pro-Palestinian student demo
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
