Foreign Diplomats Tour Beirut Airport after Weapons Claims

An exterior view of Rafik Hariri international airport during a tour organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 24 June 2024. (EPA)
An exterior view of Rafik Hariri international airport during a tour organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 24 June 2024. (EPA)
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Foreign Diplomats Tour Beirut Airport after Weapons Claims

An exterior view of Rafik Hariri international airport during a tour organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 24 June 2024. (EPA)
An exterior view of Rafik Hariri international airport during a tour organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 24 June 2024. (EPA)

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

The accusations came during escalating exchanges of fire and bellicose rhetoric between Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces, which have engaged in near-daily fire since war in Gaza began.

Hezbollah has been acting in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas since the armed group's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

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

Hezbollah has not made any official comment.

"The airport adheres to international standards," said caretaker 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 center... that accounts for 20 percent 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 percent of imports and exports, he told a press conference.

- 'Lies' -

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

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

The airport's 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 cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have left at least 481 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters, but also including 94 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

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

Housewife Rola Qassem, aged around 50, who had just arrived from Ivory Coast to spend summer in south Lebanon with her family, said she didn't believe the reports of weapons being stored at the airport.

"It's all lies so that people are afraid to go to Lebanon, to stop tourism," she told AFP.



US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
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US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)

The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthi until they end attacks on shipping, the US defense secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned militias signaled they could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.

The airstrikes, which killed at least 31 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.

The Houthi political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime" and said Houthi forces were ready to "meet escalation with escalation", while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News: "The minute the Houthis say we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting."

"This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long," he said. "They better back off."

The Houthis, who have taken control of several regions of Yemen over the past decade, said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.

They had launched scores of attacks on shipping after Israel's war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians.

Trump also told Iran, the Houthis' main backer, to stop supporting the militias immediately. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!"

IRAN WARNS US NOT TO ESCALATE

In response, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis took their own decisions.

"We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats," he told state media.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News' "Face the Nation" program: "There's no way the ... Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran: don't keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Rubio to urge an "immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue", Moscow said.

Trump has been pressing Russia to sign a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine, which Kyiv accepted last week, but Moscow has said needs to be reworked.

Trump is also increasing sanctions pressure, and hoping to enlist Russian help, to try to bring Tehran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

Most of the 31 people confirmed killed in the US strikes were women and children, said Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry. More than 100 were injured.

Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a neighborhood known to host several members of the Houthi leadership.

"The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children," said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia.

In Sanaa, a crane and bulldozer were used to remove debris at one site and people used their bare hands to pick through the rubble. At a hospital, medics treated the injured, including children, and the bodies of several casualties were placed in a yard, wrapped in plastic sheets, Reuters footage showed.

Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in the city of Taiz, two witnesses said on Sunday.

HOUTHIS' RED SEA ATTACKS DISRUPT GLOBAL TRADE ROUTE

Another strike, on a power station in the town of Dahyan, led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, often meets visitors.

The Houthi attacks on shipping have disrupted global commerce and set the US military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones.

The militants suspended their campaign when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January.

But on March 12, the Houthis said their threat to attack Israeli ships would remain in effect until Israel reapproved the delivery of aid and food into Gaza.

Joe Biden's previous US administration had also sought to degrade the Houthis' strike power. But US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump had authorized a more aggressive approach.

The US military's Central Command described Saturday's strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.

The strikes were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, officials said.

Iran condemned the strikes as a "gross violation" of the UN Charter and international law.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had "no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy".