The Lebanese air transport association on Sunday denied claims that Hezbollah has been storing at Beirut’s main airport.
The organization that runs day-to-day operations at the airport dismissed claims that Iranian weapons were being flown in and stored at the transport hub.
The organization was responding to a report in The Telegraph which cited whistleblowers who said 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 in response that 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, noted The Telegraph.
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 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 of Beirut in 2020.