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Lebanon Says Has ‘Assurances’ but No Guarantees Israel Won’t Target Airport

Smoke rises in Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, as a plane takes off from Rafic Hariri International Airport, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon, October 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, as a plane takes off from Rafic Hariri International Airport, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon, October 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Says Has ‘Assurances’ but No Guarantees Israel Won’t Target Airport

Smoke rises in Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, as a plane takes off from Rafic Hariri International Airport, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon, October 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, as a plane takes off from Rafic Hariri International Airport, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon, October 8, 2024. (Reuters)

Beirut has received "assurances" that Israel will not target the country's only international airport, Lebanon's transport minister told AFP, but said those fell short of guarantees.

Since September 23, Israel has launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon including Beirut's southern suburbs, adjacent to the airport.

On Monday, the United States warned Israel not to attack the Beirut airport or the roads leading to it, after repeated Israeli strikes near the facility.

Lebanon "seeks to keep its public airport, sea ports and land crossings -- chief among them the Rafik Hariri International Airport -- functional," Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh told AFP.

"Ongoing international calls have given us a sort of assurance" the airport will be spared Israeli strikes, he said, however adding that "there is a big difference between assurances and guarantees".

Hamieh denied Israeli accusations that Hezbollah was using the airport and border crossings to smuggle weapons.

The Beirut airport "is subject to Lebanese laws and to the scrutiny of various relevant departments and security agencies", he said.

"Any military aircraft or plane carrying weapons must be approved by the Lebanese army" and be licensed to do so by his ministry.

He said his ministry was "fully coordinating" with the army and relevant state agencies to keep land, air and sea ports safe because "if these ports are closed, it means we're under siege".

On Friday, the Israeli army said its fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets near the Masnaa border crossing, damaging the main road between Lebanon and Syria and preventing vehicles from getting through.

Dozens are still crossing the border on foot.

Lebanon's government said more than 400,000 people had fled to Syria to escape Israeli bombardment, with tens of thousands crossing from Masnaa before the main road was bombed.

"Closing off this crossing has created a big problem," Hamieh said, adding that the government was "making the necessary calls to get it back up and running again".

The Masnaa crossing is Lebanon's main land gateway to the rest of the region.

"The Masnaa crossing is a major crossing... for imports and exports, and a vital crossing for Lebanese farmers and industrialists for land exports," he said.

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Lebanon Begins Removing Palestinian Arms Outside of Refugee Camps

The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
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Lebanon Begins Removing Palestinian Arms Outside of Refugee Camps

The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)

Lebanon kicked off on Saturday the process of removing weapons in possession of Palestinian factions outside of their refugee camps.

The arms are mainly held by groups allied with the ousted Syrian regime that were based in several areas in the Bekaa, South, Beirut and the border with Syria.

The Lebanese army announced on Saturday that it had taken over three military positions that were affiliated with two Palestinian factions that were close to Bashar al-Assad's former regime.

Two of the positions are in the eastern and western Bekaa and belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. The third, in Rashaya, belonged to the Fatah al-Intifada group.

A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army intelligence has been working on this issue for some time now and was close to completely resolving it.

The army said it had seized a large number of weapons and ammunition, as well as military gear.

The removal of the weapons outside state control is part of the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hezbollah and which calls for dismantling all non-licensed military facilities that manufacture weapons in Lebanon.

The agreement also calls for removing all unlicensed weapons starting from regions south of the Litani River.

A similar agreement for the removal of Palestinian weapons was reached in March 2006, but it was never implemented.

A Lebanese security source, however, said that the latest progress in removing the Palestinian weapons has nothing to do with the ceasefire. Rather, it is related to the collapse of Assad's regime.

These factions were loyal to the regime, and they received funding and equipment from it, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Hisham Debsi, the Director of the Tatweer Center for Studies, said the positions the army has taken over are tied to factions that are affiliated with Syrian security agencies.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army should have been able to take over these locations as soon as United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 was issued in 2004.

The Palestinian Authority at the time agreed to the handover of weapons outside and inside refugee camps, but Hezbollah objected to the move and said it needed to be discussed at a dialogue among Lebanese political powers, Debsi went on to say.

At the dialogue, Hezbollah agreed to the removal of weapons inside and outside the camps, but it later thwarted the plan, he added.

The current removal of arms is tied to the implementation of resolution 1701 and others, notably 1559. It is also directly connected to the sudden and dramatic toppling of the Assad regime, he explained.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syria’s interim rulers, had issued orders for Palestinian groups affiliated with the regime to lay down their arms. “These factions, which had raised the Palestinian flag and done nothing but harm the Palestinian and Lebanese people, no longer have their regional and Lebanese backers,” so they had no choice but to yield to the orders, Debsi said.

The conditions are ripe for the Lebanese state to impose its sovereignty, through the army, across all its territories and end the presence of any Palestinian armed groups outside the refugee camps, he stressed.

Moreover, the state has the right to impose its authority over the camps and remove the weapons there, he remarked.

At the moment, the removal of Palestinian weapons does not appear to be a precursor to Hezbollah laying down its weapons in areas north of the Litani.

Such a move demands a “major political decision that is off the table at the moment,” said the sources.