Plane lands in Beirut despite blockade

[maddezmom]

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Qatar Airways plane landed at Beirut airport on Monday carrying 142 passengers aboard, despite Israel's blockade on Lebanon.

The landing came on the same day that Qatar became the first Arab country to commit troops to monitor a tense cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, pledging 200 to 300 soldiers to a U.N. peacekeeping force.

The Airbus 320 landed at Rafik Hariri International Airport in the first of what the national carrier of Qatar said would be daily flights from Doha to Beirut.

Local Lebanese TV stations touted it as the first plane to break an Israeli air and sea blockade on Lebanon that continues to be enforced after the bitter 34-day fighting that pitted Israel against the Hezbollah guerrillas.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_qatar_airways