Lebanese minister denies Hezbollah weapons at Beirut airport
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00:00Earlier today, we saw the British newspaper The Telegraph issuing or releasing an article
00:07where it mentioned that whistleblowers and sources have confirmed that Beirut airport
00:13has been used as a transit and as a storage facility for Hezbollah's weapons.
00:18In particular, they mentioned Iranian-made Falak artillery rockets, Fatah short-range
00:25missiles, M600 long-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank and laser-guided ammunition, along
00:34with other explosive material.
00:37Now, this is not the first time that we hear such allegations targeting the Beirut airport.
00:43In particular, we saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a few years ago highlighting
00:49that an area very close and adjacent to the Beirut airport has been used by Hezbollah
00:55for storing weapons coming directly from Iran on Iranian planes.
01:02Now, back then, during that time, those claims were refuted by Lebanese officials, and the
01:08Lebanese officials planned an escorted visit to the airport and its facilities for foreign
01:15media and for ambassadors and foreign personnel.
01:21And this is also the case today.
01:22So only just a few minutes before our conversation, the public works and transport minister Ali
01:28Hamieh dismissed that article by the British newspaper, and he actually labeled it as ridiculous.
01:35He said that the airport is completely safe and that no storage facilities at the airport
01:42are being used by Hezbollah in particular for storing any weapons.
01:47And he also invited the foreign press and ambassadors or whoever could be sent instead
01:56of ambassadors of foreign countries, in particular the U.S., France and other countries, to actually
02:01visit the airport tomorrow, Monday morning at 10 a.m., and explore all the buildings
02:07and underground facilities of the airport to make sure that there is no weapons stored
02:13in any of the facilities.
02:15So this is not the first time we hear this back and forth about the Beirut airport.
02:20This is the only civilian airport in Lebanon being used by Hezbollah.
02:25We've seen numerous claims by the Israeli, by some Lebanese political actors, including
02:33prominent political parties within the opposition.
02:36And always we've seen these refutations coming from the Lebanese officials.