Hezbollah condemns attack on UNIFIL at Beirut riot, demands Iranian planes be let in
Peacekeeping force’s deputy chief said wounded in pro-Hezbollah riot after Lebanon’s refusal to let planes land, which official says followed US warning that Israel would down them
Hezbollah on Sunday condemned a Friday attack on a UNIFIL convoy in Beirut that the international peacekeeping force said had wounded its outgoing deputy commander en route to the Beirut airport.
Assailing Israel’s alleged interference, the Tehran-backed terror group also demanded Lebanon reverse its decision to stop Iranian flights from landing at the Rafik Hariri International Airport. A Lebanese security source said the ban had followed a private warning from the White House that Israel would target the airport should the plane land.
Lebanon’s decision, which Iran responded to in kind, followed Israel’s public warning on Thursday that Tehran was using civilian planes to smuggle cash for Hezbollah to rebuild itself, in violation of the November 27 ceasefire agreement between Israel and the terror group. Throughout nearly 14 months of war until the ceasefire, Israel had repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon’s only airport to smuggle in supplies from Iran.
The refusal to let Iranian planes land in Beirut sparked pro-Hezbollah riots, during which the UNIFIL general’s car was torched. Lebanese authorities have detained more than 25 people as part of an investigation into the attack, which the US State Department said was carried out “reportedly by a group of Hezbollah supporters.”
In a statement Sunday, Hezbollah condemned the incident and said it “affirms its firm rejection of any targeting of [UNIFIL] as well as any harm to public and private property.”
The condemnation came at the end of a message assailing the Lebanese military for attacking what Hezbollah described as “a peaceful movement and a civilized expression of popular opposition to unjustified submission to foreign dictates.”
“The protesters were surprised when some Lebanese army personnel launched tear gas canisters toward them,” said the terror group, adding that it “calls on the army leadership to open an urgent investigation into this condemned attack.”
Hezbollah urged Lebanon’s government to “assume its responsibility in protecting the peaceful protesters.”
The terror group also demanded the government “reverse its decision to prevent Iranian planes from landing at Beirut Airport, and take serious measures to prevent the Israeli enemy from imposing its dictates and violating national sovereignty.”
On Sunday, a Lebanese security source told AFP Washington had warned Beirut that Israel could shoot down two Iranian flights to Lebanon, one on Thursday and another on Friday.
Under the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, Israel is entitled to carry out attacks against imminent threats by the terror group.
The source who spoke to AFP said that Israel conveyed to Lebanon on Thursday, via the US, that “it would target the airport if the Iranian plane landed in Lebanon.”
“The American side told the Lebanese side that Israel was serious about its threat,” said the source, adding that Lebanon’s public works and transport ministry then refused clearance for the flight after consulting the prime minister and president.
The message was passed on to Iran before the flight took off, said the source.
Another flight was also barred from taking off from Iran on Friday, which prompted the Hezbollah supporters to block the road to Lebanon’s only airport.
Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, whose government includes Hezbollah as a minor member, said Saturday that “the security of Beirut airport takes precedence over any other consideration.”
“And the safety of travelers as well as the safety of Lebanese citizens are elements on which we will not compromise,” he said.
Salam, a former top judge at the International Court of Justice, was tapped for premier by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun last month. His election, with the backing of Paris, Riyadh and Washington, ended a two-year impasse.
Previously the commander of Lebanon’s military, Aoun has vowed to maintain a state monopoly on arms — a thinly veiled threat against Hezbollah’s extensive arsenal. The terror group was the only Lebanese militia not to surrender its arms to the state when the country’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
Hezbollah is required under the ceasefire agreement with Israel to vacate southern Lebanon. Israel was given 60 days, until January 26, to withdraw from the area. The withdrawal deadline was extended, with Beirut’s approval, to February 18. Israel is reportedly seeking to stay longer in some areas of south Lebanon.
Israel invaded Lebanon in September, in a bid to end the terror group’s persistent rocket fire, which had displaced some 60,000 northerners. The terror group’s near-daily attacks began, unprovoked, on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
