Syrian Airline halts Minsk flights over Belarus border crisis

A Cham Wings plane, a private Syrian airline, is pictured taking off from Arbil airport, in the capital of Iraq’s autonomous northern Kurdish region, on September 28, 2017 [SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images]

Syria’s private Cham Wings Airlines, on Saturday, suspended flights between Damascus and the Belarus capital of Minsk because of the “critical circumstances” along the Belarus-Poland border where thousands of migrants have been trying to cross into the European Union, the company statement said.

“Cham Wings Airlines decided to suspend its flights to Minsk Airport as of Saturday, 13 November, 2021,” the company said.

In recent months, Belarus began offering easy tourist visas to Iraqis, Syrians and others from the Middle East and Africa. By the help of this, they could now reach the edge of Europe on comfortable flights to Belarus, and then try to sneak into Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, all EU members.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the body of a Syrian man about 20 years old, was found near a border village, Polish police said.

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