Beirut airport screens display anti-Hezbollah message after being hacked

Departure and arrival information scrapped for warning accusing Iran-backed terror group of putting Lebanon at risk of all-out war with Israel

An anti-Hezbollah message accusing the group of putting Lebanon at risk of all-out war with Israel appears at the Beirut airport on January 7, 2024 after the displays were hacked. (Twitter, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
An anti-Hezbollah message accusing the group of putting Lebanon at risk of all-out war with Israel appears at the Beirut airport on January 7, 2024 after the displays were hacked. (Twitter, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

BEIRUT — The information display screens at Beirut’s international airport were hacked by domestic anti-Hezbollah groups Sunday, as clashes between the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group and the Israeli military continue to intensify along the border.

Departure and arrival information was replaced by a message accusing the Hezbollah group of putting Lebanon at risk of an all-out war with Israel.

The screens displayed a message with logos from a hardline Christian group dubbed Soldiers of God, which has garnered attention over the past year for its campaigns against the LGBTQ+ community in Lebanon, and a little-known group that calls itself The One Who Spoke. In a video statement, the Christian group denied its involvement, while the other group shared photos of the screens on its social media channels.

“Hassan Nasrallah, you will no longer have supporters if you curse Lebanon with a war for which you will bear responsibility and consequences,” the message read, echoing similar sentiments to critics over the years who have accused Hezbollah of smuggling weapons and munitions through the tiny Mediterranean country’s only civilian airport.

The message said the airport was “not the airport of Hezbollah and Iran,” according to the reports.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said “the cyberattack on the departure and arrival screens at the airport disrupted the BHS baggage inspection system.”

It added that authorities were working to restore the screens “and to maintain normal movement at the airport.”

Passengers gathered around the screens, taking pictures and sharing them on social media.

Hezbollah has been striking Israeli military bases and positions near the country’s northern border with Lebanon since October 8, the day after Hamas triggered the war in Gaza with a murderous attack on southern Israel when thousands of terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.

Israel has been striking Hezbollah positions in response and has warned that it wants to push the Iranian proxy away from its northern border.

The near-daily clashes have intensified sharply over the past week, after an apparent Israeli strike in a southern Beirut suburb killed top Hamas official and commander Saleh al-Arouri.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US special envoy Amos Hochstein were dispatched to the region to try to cool tensions as the war against Hamas threatens to spark a broader regional conflagration.

“This is a moment of profound tension for the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and suffering,” Blinken told reporters in Qatar on Sunday.

This picture taken on December 31, 2023, from southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing across the border in northern Israel in the vicinity of a military facility in Metula, after the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets. (Hasan Fneich/AFP)

In a speech on Saturday, Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the group would retaliate for the attack on Arouri in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut on Tuesday.

He dismissed criticisms that the group was looking for a full-scale war with Israel, but said if Israel launches one, Hezbollah is ready for a war “without limits.”

Hezbollah announced an “initial response” to Arouri’s killing on Saturday, launching a volley of 62 rockets toward an Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron.

The Lebanese government and international community have been scrambling to prevent a war in Lebanon, which they fear would spark a regional spillover.

On Saturday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met a Hezbollah political official in Beirut, as part of a push to avoid Lebanon being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, an EU source said.

In nearly three months of cross-border fire, Hezbollah has named 153 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 19 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 19 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.

There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

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