Lebanon: Theft Gangs on Beirut Airport Road Terrify Passers-by

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi during a visit to Beirut airport on Wednesday (National News Agency)

Lebanon’s airport road that links the country’s Rafik Hariri International Airport to the capital Beirut and to other areas has turned into a haven for outlaws and armed theft gangs leaving victims petrified and sometimes dead.
Months after security chaos, Lebanon’s security forces decided to take action and succeeded at arresting several members of these gangs mainly of Lebanese and Syrian nationalities. The arrests took place in the southern suburbs of Beirut and in the Bekaa region.
Sources following up closely on the file, said the “belated security awakening” came after a “green light” given by the Hezbollah party who lifted the cover off these gangs.
“These gangs roam freely in Hezbollah’s security square (in the southern suburbs of Beirut). They have turned into a burden on the party. They tend to run into the southern suburbs for shelter each time they carry out a theft”, the sources said.
They tend to execute their crimes either late at night or at dawn fishing for people coming or heading to the airport, according to the sources.
A security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the armed gangs tend to carefully choose the timing when road traffic is low, taking strategic positions that make their escape an easy one.
He said: “More than thirty incidents have been reported since the beginning of the year”. The gangs “have exploited the absence of security presence on the airport road. Security forces do not patrol that area 24/7 like they used to before the economic crisis”.
Meanwhile, security and strategic expert, Naji Malaeb, told Asharq Al-Awsat that what is happening on the airport road is the result of self-imposed security that some people advocate for in Lebanon.
He said the southern suburbs area has turned into a haven for outlaws when Hezbollah turned it into a security zone outside the state’s control.
In March, a theft incident left a taxi driver dead inside the airport tunnel. Also, video footage circulating on social media recently showed two men, one of them carrying a rifle, on a motorbike chasing a man on a motorcycle.
A source close to Hezbollah denied claims that the party is providing shelter for those. He said the party provides the security forces with information about gangs.