Lebanese authorities hosted an open tour of Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport on Monday, inviting press and diplomats to observe the compound for themselves in response to a UK newspaper’s allegations that weapons are stockpiled there by the powerful Hezbollah militia.
More than 100 journalists and diplomats attended the tour of the airport’s numerous warehouses. The National found no sign of weapons in any of the depots.
The allegations from The Telegraph newspaper, which cited anonymous “whistle-blowers” working at the civilian airport, detailed a large cache of weapons.
The report was immediately ridiculed by Lebanon’s Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, who dismissed the article as baseless and badly sourced, and immediately called on the media to tour the site.
"We've invited embassies and journalists to the airport to come and see for themselves," he said at a press conference held after the tour.
The Telegraph, citing unnamed airport workers, reported “unusually big boxes” had been arriving at the site from Iran since November.
“I would have preferred for The Telegraph to use credible sources, like the British Ministry of Transport which inspected the airport just six months ago,” Mr Hamieh said.
The article also detailed the kind of weapons reportedly stored at the airport, even though the employees quoted admitted they could not see inside the boxes.
The National spoke to an airport lorry driver who carries large quantities of goods into a warehouse run by Lebanon’s Customs Authority.
“I’ve been doing this job for 10 years and I’ve never seen any sign of weapons being smuggled or stored here,” he said.
A customs officer who spoke to The National, under the condition of anonymity, said airport employees were not mandated to inspect boxes.
“Only customs officials can inspect merchandise,” he said. “An ordinary airport worker would not be able to see what was inside.”
Lebanon and Hezbollah have been engaged in daily cross-border battles, toeing the line between all-out war and a contained conflict, since October 8.
The Telegraph report has led to fears among many Lebanese that the claims could be used as a justification for Israel to bomb the civilian compound.
Those fears were exacerbated by the Israeli army’s response to the report on Sunday.
"If Hezbollah attacks Israeli civilians from these sites, the [Israeli army] will have no choice but to respond, thereby possibly risking Lebanese civilians,” Israel’s military said in a statement.
The airport was bombed by Israel during the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war, forcing it to close for the duration of the 33-day conflict. The Israeli air force justified the strike by claiming the site was being used by Hezbollah to receive weapons shipments.
A journalist for a pan-Arab newspaper, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said the media tour “was the only possible response by the Lebanese government to The Telegraph article".
“I think it was an attempt at transparency and to prove that the airport was a civilian facility and not a military one,” he told The National.
“The purpose of the tour was to show the world that the Lebanese government has nothing to hide and that Beirut airport is not a weapons storage facility. The former goal was accomplished, the latter is impossible to know without bringing in experts.
He added: “Evidence should be brought forward that indicates that the Beirut airport is used is a weapons storage facility ... before we take the accusations that The Telegraph article levelled seriously."
