Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, has criticized Air France for landing at Damascus airport to refuel last week. Fabius said the move endangered the lives of the 174 passengers of the Paris-Beirut flight, specifically because there were Lebanese people on the flight who are wanted in Syria and France's ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli was also on board. He has asked the airline to provide details of the flight. Speaking to Le Parisien newspaper, Fabius said: "Imagine just for one second that the Syrian authorities had searched the aircraft and checked the identities (of the passengers)." "It was a foolish mistake," and the decision of Air France was "incomprehensible and dangerous."
Air France criticized for Syria landing
