Lebanon rejects British daily’s ‘false’ report of weapons storage at Beirut airport

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

The accusations came during escalating exchanges of fire between Hizbollah movement and Israeli forces, which have engaged in near-daily fire since war in Gaza began.

Hizbollah has been acting in support of Hamas.

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

"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 per cent 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 per cent of imports and exports, he told a press conference.

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

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

Beirut airport 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."

More than eight months of exchanges of fire between Hizbollah and Israeli forces have left at least 481 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters, but also including 94 civilians.

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

Agence France-Presse