June 3 - Lebanon's aviation regulator has carried out a safety audit of Middle East Airlines as pilot groups raised concerns that crews were being asked to fly close to airstrikes and penalized for reporting safety incidents, letters seen by Reuters show.

The audit puts scrutiny on Beirut-based flag carrier MEA, which has kept Lebanon connected through war and financial collapse even as many foreign airlines have avoided large parts of Middle East airspace because of missile and drone risks since the Iran war began on February 28.

In a public statement on Wednesday, MEA said it had decided to carry on flying "after acquiring international guarantees that the airport would remain outside the conflict area".

MEA, whose fleet of around 20 planes operates in the Middle East, Europe and West Africa, has been praised in Lebanon for continuing to fly and helping to prop up an economy that is more dependent than ever on from expatriates.

It said the audit over the last two weeks was "an annual procedure that has long been scheduled and is not related to the aforementioned letter", adding that MEA had not had a single accident in the last 60 years.

Earlier, MEA told Reuters it has a strong and proven safety record, and that any flights during military hostilities were conducted based on risk assessments developed alongside Lebanon's government and the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority.

Since 2024, multiple Israeli airstrikes have landed near Lebanon's only commercial airport, raising concerns among the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA), a global federation of pilot unions, given the history of civilian aircraft being shot down in or near conflict zones.

Concerns have grown as Israeli strikes on Lebanon stepped up this year during a widening conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"While some may think that flying civilian aircraft and passengers in high-risk and conflict zones during war conditions is heroic, we consider this an unconscionable risk," IFALPA President Ron Hay wrote in a May 12 letter to Lebanon's central bank, w...