Lebanon denies weapons stockpile at Beirut's main airport

BEIRUT

The Lebanese Air Transport Union on Sunday dismissed as “lies” a British media report that Hezbollah was storing weapons at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.

The Telegraph newspaper, citing airport whistleblowers, said that Hezbollah was storing huge quantities of Iranian weapons, missiles, and explosives at the airport.

The report “was mere illusions and lies aimed at endangering the Beirut airport and its workers, all of whom are civilians, as well as the passengers traveling to and from it, who are also civilians,” the union said in a statement.

It held the British daily and “those spreading its illusions responsible for the safety of the workers and passengers” at the airport.

The union called on all Lebanese, Arab, and foreign media “to come to the Beirut airport with filming crews to verify for themselves, otherwise what these suspicious media are promoting is incitement to kill us.”

The media report was published at a time when tensions were rising along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv presses ahead with its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 37,600 people since last Oct. 7.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala