Saudia’s flights to Los Angeles: Families on cloud nine

April 2, 2014

Jeddah, Apr 2: Saudi scholarship students and other passengers are delighted as Saudi Arabian Airlines’ (Saudia) launched direct flights to Los Angeles.

“This is very good news,” said Abdelelah Saaty, dean of the College of Business in Rabigh, who is a regular traveler to the US and had obtained his master’s degree from the University of Southern California.

“Before launching this new Saudia flight, people had to fly first to Washington or New York to catch a seven-hour flight to Los Angeles,” Saaty told Arab News.

“Los Angeles is in the heart of California, which is a business center and the new flight will boost commercial relations between the two countries,” he said.

Los Angeles is the second largest US city after New York. More than 80,000 Saudi nationals are currently pursuing their higher studies in American universities and institutes.

Most of them live there with their families.

Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, CEO of Saudia, who launched the new flight, emphasized the airline’s plan to expand its operations worldwide.

He was accompanied by Abdullah Al-Ajhar, EVP public relations, and Walid Al-Oloumi, PR adviser.

Los Angeles is Saudia’s third destination in the US after New York and Washington,

Saudia will operate three flights weekly to Los Angeles on Saturdays, Thursdays and Mondays.

Saudia has deployed Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on this route.

The plane has 24 seats in the First Class, 36 in Business Class and 245 in the Economy Class.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

Comments