Hezbollah supporters blocked all roads to Lebanon’s only commercial airport with burning tires on Thursday after a passenger plane from Iran wasn’t allowed to fly to Beirut, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
The protests forced hundreds of travelers to head to the airport on foot to avoid missing their flights. Many were late in catching their flights.
Videos on social media showed dozens of Lebanese citizens who were on a religious visit to Iran stranded at Tehran airport because the flight was barred from heading to Beirut.
The flight was supposed to depart at 2:30 pm Tehran time, but it was prevented from taking off, activists said on social media.
“Our government is incapable of receiving its citizens because of a tweet by Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee about Iranian funds being sent to Hezbollah through the flight,” said one Lebanese citizen.
Adraee had earlier tweeted that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Forces and Hezbollah were “exploiting Beirut Airport and civilian flights to smuggle funds intended to strengthen the terrorist organization and support terror activities against the State of Israel.”
Lebanon’s civil aviation agency at Rafik Hariri International Airport said it had informed Tehran that it would not receive the flight that was headed to Beirut.
An informed source at Beirut airport said the flight was carrying funds to Hezbollah, which would put the facility in danger.
The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the flight was barred from traveling by Lebanon’s Public Works and Transportation Ministry.
The bar does not include all flights from Iran to Beirut, but this flight specifically due to doubts over its cargo, it added.
Beirut airport is being watched very closely and its authorities are taking all precautions to prevent it from coming under any threat, it said.
The army eventually intervened to disperse the protests and reopen the roads to the airport.
A security source in the military said it has taken all necessary measures to reopen the roads.
“The protesters have a right to object to what has happened to their relatives, but it is unacceptable, under any circumstances, to block the road to the airport and prevent travelers from catching their flights,” the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“We understand their anger, but it is unacceptable to use the freedom and the safety of people heading to and from the airport as a means to pressure the state,” it went on to say.
