Lebanon's national Middle East Airlines (MEA) resumed on Sunday flights between Cairo and Beirut via the Jordanian capital Amman after 40 days of suspension, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

An MEA plane, carrying 149 passengers, most of whom were Lebanese, left Cairo's international airport for Beirut via Aman on Sunday, according to the report.

There is no direct flight between Cairo and Beirut at the moment because of an air blockage imposed by Israel on Lebanon.

Earlier, MEA's regional director in Cairo Mohamed el-Sharqawi was quoted by MENA as saying that the airline had also won the authorization for flights to take the same line back to Cairo.

The Cairo-Beirut direct flights had been suspended since the eruption of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in Lebanon on July 12.

A ceasefire under a UN Security Council resolution ended the 34-day-long fighting on Aug. 14 and some passenger flights have been allowed to land in Beirut's airport, which was forced to close during the violence.