Space Travel News
WAR REPORT
Foreign diplomats tour Beirut airport after weapons claims
Foreign diplomats tour Beirut airport after weapons claims
by AFP Staff Writers
Beirut (AFP) June 24, 2024

Senior Lebanese officials on Monday defended procedures at Beirut airport during a tour for journalists and diplomats, a day after a British daily alleged Hezbollah was storing weapons at the facility.

The accusations came during escalating exchanges of fire and bellicose rhetoric between Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces, which have engaged in near-daily fire since war in Gaza began.

Hezbollah has been acting in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas since the militant group's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

On Sunday, British daily The Telegraph reported that Hezbollah was storing missiles and rockets at Beirut airport, where "whistleblowers" had reported the arrival of "unusually big boxes" from Iran.

Hezbollah has not made any official comment.

"The airport adheres to international standards," said Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, who led the visit together with Lebanon's ministers for foreign affairs, tourism and information.

Representatives from foreign missions including Egypt, Germany and the European Union delegation joined the tour of the airport's warehouse facilities.

Hamieh on Sunday held a press conference to reject The Telegraph report as false and "to say that there are no weapons entering or leaving Beirut." He invited ambassadors and reporters for the tour.

At the airport, Hamieh described The Telegraph report as part of "psychological war" on Lebanon and said it was a "distortion of the reputation" of Lebanon's only international airport.

The tour "included an import and export centre... that accounts for 20 percent of the import traffic and is concerned with services for Iranian planes which were the subject of The Telegraph report", Hamieh said.

Another warehouse accounted for the remaining 80 percent of imports and exports, he told a press conference.

- 'Lies' -

Israel has for years accused Hezbollah of keeping weapons in installations throughout Lebanon, including near Beirut airport, an accusation Hezbollah has denied.

Israel bombed Beirut airport when it last went to war with Hezbollah in 2006.

The airport's manager, Fadi El-Hassan, said all aircraft arriving at the facility, including Iranian planes, "are subject to the same customs procedures".

Egyptian ambassador Alaa Moussa said that while diplomats were not responsible for inspecting the airport for prohibited items, "our presence (at the tour) is a message of support" to Lebanon and "a message to all parties that what is needed... is calm".

The United States, Israel's key ally, said its ambassador did not attend the tour of the Beirut airport but that Washington had been in touch with Lebanese authorities over the allegations in the Telegraph article.

"We've seen the statement from the government of Lebanon that the report's not grounded in fact. We take these issues extremely seriously and monitor them very closely," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, without offering a US assessment on whether the report was accurate.

More than eight months of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have left at least 481 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters, but also including 94 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country's north.

Housewife Rola Qassem, aged around 50, who had just arrived from Ivory Coast to spend summer in south Lebanon with her family, said she didn't believe the reports of weapons being stored at the airport.

"It's all lies so that people are afraid to go to Lebanon, to stop tourism," she told AFP.

Related Links
Space War News

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
WAR REPORT
Zelensky dismisses senior Ukrainian army commander
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) June 24, 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced a high-ranking army official leading troops in the country's embattled east on Monday after he was accused of incompetence and abuse of power during the Russian invasion. The move came as Kyiv has struggled to hold back Moscow's forces in the east for months, almost two and half years into the war. "I have decided to replace the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol, with Brigadier General An ... read more

WAR REPORT
WAR REPORT
NASA Observes Mars Illuminated During Major Solar Storm

Water frost discovered on Mars' tallest volcanoes

Frost discovered on top of giant Mars volcanoes

New analysis suggests lack of subglacial lake on Mars

WAR REPORT
Chang'e-6 to Return with Farside Moon Samples

Intuitive Machines Achieves Lunar Landing with Sciaky EBAM Component

In new experiment, scientists record Earth's radio waves from the moon

NASA's Gateway space station Halo module moves closer to launch

WAR REPORT
Understanding Cyclones on Jupiter Through Oceanography

Unusual Ion May Influence Uranus and Neptune's Magnetic Fields

NASA's Europa Clipper Arrives in Florida for Launch Preparation

New Earth-Based Telescope Images of Jupiter's Moon Io Match Spacecraft Quality

WAR REPORT
Hydrothermal Vents on Ocean Worlds Could Support Life, UC Santa Cruz Study Finds

Discovery of Four Mini-Neptunes Around Red Dwarfs

Laser tests reveal new insights into key mineral for super-Earths

NASA and ESA explore habitability of exoplanets with Chandra and XMM-Newton

WAR REPORT
Boeing Starliner's return to Earth delayed again

China performs successful test towards reusable rocket goal

SpaceX finally launches communications satellite

Boeing Starliner return to Earth set for June 26

WAR REPORT
Hainan Launch Center Completes Construction for First Mission

Ten make the cut for China's fourth batch of astronauts

China announces first astronaut candidates from Hong Kong, Macau

China Open to Space Collaboration with the US

WAR REPORT
Humanity's climate impact like dinosaur-ending meteor: UN chief

Asteroid Dinkinesh Shows Complex History in Lucy Flyby

ESA Tests Guidance Systems for Hera Asteroid Mission

Asteroid Dinkinesh Has Dual Moons, Researchers Discover

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.