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Israel Threatens to Bomb Beirut Airport If Used to Deliver Iranian Weapons

A general view shows Beirut's international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)
A general view shows Beirut's international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)
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Israel Threatens to Bomb Beirut Airport If Used to Deliver Iranian Weapons

A general view shows Beirut's international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)
A general view shows Beirut's international airport, Lebanon. (Reuters)

Israel raised threats on Saturday of plans to bomb the Beirut airport if the terminal gets used as an Iranian weapons smuggling route, in a situation similar to what it did in Syria.

Israeli political sources in Tel Aviv said that Israel was aware of a report broadcast by “Al-Arabiya Channel” about Iran's plans to use a new smuggling corridor for its weapons through Beirut after the failure of the Damascus corridor.

The sources said that Tel Aviv is investigating Tehran’s attempt to smuggle weapons through civilian flights to Beirut airport.

They confirmed that Israel’s intensified air raids on Syria, in recent years, have proven beneficial in thwarting most of the Iranian weapons smuggling operations to its armed militias in Syria and to Hezbollah in Lebanon and destroying a number of Iranian air bases and sites on Syrian territory.

They stressed that Israel will not be lenient with the transport of Iranian weapons through Beirut airport, threatening to carry out harsh military strikes if the terminal is used for Iranian ammunition deliveries.

Sources in Tel Aviv linked the matter to a visit made by Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah two weeks ago to Syria where he met Syrian President Bashar Assad.

They said Nasrallah discussed the difficulties faced by Iran and Hezbollah in Syria as a result of the Israeli strikes there.

In 1968, Israel bombed Beirut airport in response to an attack carried out by the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine" on an Israeli civilian plane. The Palestinian organization had bases in Lebanon at the time. The Israeli raid destroyed a number of civilian aircrafts belonging to Middle East Airlines.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.