Iraq To Resume Flights To Kuwait

Iraq's state-run airline will resume commercial flights to neighboring Kuwait for the first time since Saddam Hussein's forces invaded the Gulf state more than 22 years ago.

Fawwaz al-Farah, the head of Kuwait's civil aviation authority, said that Iraqi Airways will resume flights to Kuwait on February 16.

It will fly four direct flights a week from Baghdad to Kuwait airport.

Two more flights will go through the southern Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.

Another one will go through Irbil in Iraq's Kurdistan.

The resumption of flights follows a settlement over some war reparations.

Baghdad has agreed to pay $500 million in compensation to Kuwait's national airline for damages during the 1990 war.

The two countries have yet to settle many other disputes resulting from the war.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP