A Lebanese man has been arrested in the airport of the Nigerian city of Lagos for trying to smuggle drugs to Lebanon in his boxer shorts, the head of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said Wednesday.

Yves Awad, 23, was apprehended by officials of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) with about 260 grams of cocaine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

Middle East Airlines joined on Tuesday other carriers in the region to cancel flights to Baghdad after a plane from Dubai came under fire as it landed in the Iraqi capital a day earlier.

A short statement said MEA canceled the flights to and from the Iraqi capital for Tuesday given the circumstances at Baghdad International Airport.

A Middle East Airlines flight from Geneva arrived in Beirut on Sunday after landing in Rome over the absence of a passenger, the airline announced.

MEA said in a statement that the aircraft was heading from the Swiss city to Rafik Hariri International Airport in the Lebanese capital when it was revealed that a passenger with a boarding pass did not take the flight.

Iraq's transport minister apologized anew on Sunday for a row in which a Lebanese airliner en route to Baghdad was ordered to turn back mid-flight to pick up his son.

Hadi al-Ameri pledged to turn his son in if an Iraqi investigation found he had carried out any wrongdoing and insisted he would personally bear the costs of the Middle East Airlines flight having to turn around while traveling from Beirut to Baghdad.

Iraqi Transport Minister Hadi al-Ameri on Saturday stressed on the “historical and brotherly” ties between Lebanon and Iraq, assuring that recent events will not change these relations.

"The bubble that happened lately will not change the historical and brotherly relations between Baghdad and Beirut,” al-Ameri said at Rafic Hariri International Airport upon his arrival in Beirut, adding that Iraq will “probe the incident and penalize all delinquents.”

The deputy head of Baghdad airport was arrested after a Baghdad-bound Middle East Airlines plane that left Beirut without the Iraqi transport minister's son was ordered mid-flight to turn back, the premier's spokesman said Friday.

Samer "Kubba was arrested... because his action was wrong and harmful to the prestige of the Iraqi state," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi told Agence France Presse.

Near-bankrupt national carrier Cyprus Airways said on Tuesday it was in preliminary talks with suitor Middle East Airlines as it undergoes drastic restructuring to stay afloat.

"Middle East Airlines and its representatives had preliminary contacts with company management and the ministry of finance," the carrier said in a statement to the stock exchange.

European aircraft maker Airbus said Wednesday that Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines had finalized its order of 10 passenger planes in its A320neo family that carry a list price of $1 billion.

In a statement, Airbus said the deal involved five A320neo and five A321neo planes, with options on eight additional planes.

National carrier Middle East Airlines has denied a media report that two of its planes were targeted by surface-to-air missiles in Syrian airspace.

In a statement it issued late Monday, MEA said the company's planes continue to use the Syrian airspace which “is open and functions naturally.”

European aircraft maker Airbus announced Thursday that Lebanese airline MEA has proposed to buy ten of its single-aisle neo passenger planes.

Airbus did not disclose the deal amount for the aircraft, which have a combined list price of $1.0 billion at list prices.