A Qatar Airways flight on Monday landed in Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport without landing in Amman, despite Israel's blockade on Lebanon.

The Airbus 320 landed at 3:20 p.m. local time (1220 GMT) at Beirut in the first of what Qatar Airways said would be daily direct flights from Doha to Beirut.

Qatar Airways is the first airline to receive permission to restart scheduled services to the war-ravaged country since the signing of an UN-brokered ceasefire agreement on Aug. 14.

On Sunday, Qatar Airways had announced that it would resume non- stop daily commercial operations to Beirut after obtaining permission from the Lebanese authorities.

However, the airline did not comment on whether it had sought Israeli clearance.

Israel imposed an air and sea blockade on Lebanon at the outset of its 34-day-long conflict with the Shiite Hezbollah militia on July 12. The blockade is being maintained despite UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calling for it to be lifted.

Before Qatar Airways, the only two companies which have since the end of the conflict on Aug. 14 been authorized to operate commercial flights to Beirut, via Amman, are Lebanese Middle East Airlines and Royal Jordanian.

The 34-day-long war between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel destroyed large sections of Lebanon's infrastructure, but runways at Beirut's international airport have been repaired.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2006)