To stop Hezbollah from using it to smuggle Iranian weapons
Political circles in Tel Aviv have revealed that Israel has threatened the Lebanese government to bomb Beirut airport if it is used to smuggle Iranian weapons, as it has done to Syria.
Israeli sources said they were aware that Iran was trying to use a new smuggling corridor through Beirut after the failure of the Damascus corridor and that Tel Aviv was investigating Tehran’s attempt to smuggle weapons through civilian flights on Iranian planes to Beirut airport.
The sources confirmed that continued Israeli airstrikes on Syria in recent years have proved their worth and have hampered most of Iran’s arms smuggling operations to its armed militias in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran was expected to look for other ways to get these weapons, but Israel would not treat Iranian arms transfers through the Beirut airport leniently.
And it has conveyed, through a third party, a message that it will carry out harsh military strikes against the airport in the event that Iranian weapons, ammunition or military equipment reach it.
Other sources in Tel Aviv linked the news of the use of Beirut airport to transport shipments of Iranian weapons and the visit of Hezbollah general secretary Hassan Nasrallah to Damascus and his meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. He said this visit, which took place two weeks ago, addressed the difficulties Iran and Hezbollah face in Syria following the Israeli attacks.
Israel had bombed Beirut airport in late 1968 in response to an attack by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on an Israeli civilian aircraft.
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