By Nohad Topalian | 2024-07-05

BEIRUT -- Hizbullah is putting lives in danger by trafficking Iranian-made weapons and ammunition through Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport and possibly storing them in the vicinity, sources said.

In a June 23 report by British newspaper the Telegraph, "whistleblowers" pointed to the arrival of "unusually big boxes" from Iran at the airport, where Hizbullah allegedly has been storing missiles and rockets.

Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh was quick to deny the report.

Lebanese military and political analysts, however, have little doubt that Hizbullah uses the airport, as well as land and sea crossings it controls, to bring in military logistical equipment from Iran.

Hizbullah uses Beirut airport "for military and logistical purposes, and to ship lightweight equipment and parts directly from Iran and distribute them to its bases, warehouses and headquarters," said military analyst Khalil al-Helou.

The heavy Fateh missiles are shipped by land and sea, he told Pishtaz.

The southern suburb of Beirut, near the airport, is a "stronghold of Hizbullah and its leaders," al-Helou said.

"A road network connects the suburb directly to the south via Saida (Sidon) Road and the Bekaa via the Beirut-Damascus international highway, which gives [Hizbullah] freedom of movement ... away from the eyes of the Lebanese authorities."

Serving Iran's agenda

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah claims the Iran-aligned party has 150,000 missiles distributed among bases and warehouses in the villages of the south, the northern Bekaa Valley and Syria, al-Helou said.

"Nasrallah's admission that Hizbullah possesses 150,000 missiles, and his declaration that the equipment needed for war is in place, is in itself a serious danger facing the Lebanese," he said.

Hizbullah "is dragging Lebanon into a conflict to serve Iran's agenda," harnessing all state facilities to advance Iran's project in the region, he said.

It has been exercising its control over the airport since May 7, 2008, when it was asked "to remove its surveillance cameras from inside the airport," political researcher and writer Makram Rabah told Pishtaz.

"Since then, it has used it as a main crossing point for the smuggling and shipping of logistical equipment."

Rabah pointed to last August, when a truck loaded with Hizbullah's weapons overturned in al-Kahaleh en route from the Bekaa Valley to Beirut.

"The main problem is the mentality of Hizbullah, which does what it wants without care about the safety of the Lebanese," he said.

"It deems all of Lebanon at its disposal, not just its vital facilities, because its priority is to serve Iran."