An Olympic Airways plane chartered by a humanitarian organization took off here early Saturday bound for Baghdad in the latest flight to break the UN air embargo imposed a decade ago, organizers said.
The flight, chartered by the Greek branch of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders), was carrying "100 Greek and foreign personalities", said MSF-Greece president Odysseas Voudouris.
However the plane was not carrying any pharmaceutical supplies or humanitarian aid, he added.
The organization had received authorization from the United Nations to make the flight, said Voudouris.
Russia and France first tested the air embargo and around 50 foreign planes have now landed in Baghdad since Saddam International airport reopened on August 17.
Iraq, which has also resumed domestic flights for the first time in almost 10 years, insists the sanctions -- imposed after the Gulf War -- do not cover passenger flights, while the UN Security Council is divided on the issue -- ATHENS (AFP)
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