Beirut airport bosses deny it is being used to store Hezbollah weapons

Claims that weapons are being stored at Beirut’s main airport have been denied by the Lebanese air transport association.

The organisation that runs day-to-day operations at the airport dismissed claims that Iranian weapons were being flown in and stored at the transport hub.

Whistleblowers at the airport told The Telegraph they were concerned about increasing weapons supplies on direct flights from Iran.

They claimed that they had observed “unusually big boxes” arriving and the increased presence of high level Hezbollah commanders.

The Lebanese air transport association said the claims were “deceptions and lies aimed at exposing Beirut airport and its workers”, and announced a press tour of the airport on Monday.

Hezbollah has previously been accused of using the civilian airport for weapons storage, but the whistleblowers claimed it has escalated since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel intensified in October.

Ali Hamieh, Lebanon’s transport minister, said the allegations were “ridiculous” and invited journalists and ambassadors to view the airport on Monday. He was nominated to the government by Hezbollah.

Staff at the airport and intelligence sources claimed in interviews with The Telegraph that weapons were travelling through the airport and being stored on site.

The cache allegedly includes Iranian-made Falaq unguided artillery rockets, Fateh-110 short-range missiles, road-mobile ballistic missiles and M-600 missiles with ranges of 150 to 200 miles.

Also at the airport it is claimed that there are AT-14 Kornets, laser-guided anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), huge quantities of Burkan short-range ballistic missiles and explosive RDX, a toxic white powder also known as cyclonite or hexogen.



The allegations will raise fears that the Rafic Hariri airport, just four miles from the city centre, could become a major military target.

The whistleblowers said they were speaking out because they did not want the airport to put civilians at risk from an explosion like the one that hit the port in 2020.

One airport worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “This is extremely serious, mysterious large boxes arriving on direct flights from Iran are a sign that things got worse.”

In November, “unusually big boxes” arrived on a direct flight from Iran. “This doesn’t happen often, but it did happen exactly when everyone in Lebanon was talking about the possibility of war,” the first worker added.

Another whistleblower claimed: “For years I have been watching Hezbollah operating at Beirut airport, but when they do it during a war, it turns the airport into a target.

“If they keep bringing in these goods I’m not allowed to check, I really believe I’ll die from the explosion or I’ll die from Israel bombing ‘the goods’. It’s not just us, it’s the ordinary people, the people coming in and out, going on holiday. If the airport is bombed, Lebanon is finished.”