Beirut Airport security overhaul thwarting Hezbollah smuggling, satisfying Israeli, US officials — report

Lebanon has conducted a major overhaul of security at its sole international airport in Beirut to prevent Hezbollah smuggling, satisfying Israeli and US officials and giving them hope that the Lebanese state will take full control over the country’s ports of entry from the terror group, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“You can feel the difference,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam tells the WSJ. “We’re doing better on smuggling for the first time in the contemporary history of Lebanon.”

Senior Lebanese security and military officials tell the outlet that no planes are now exempt from security checks, while flights from Iran have been suspended since February. Airport staff linked to Hezbollah have been fired, smugglers detained, and new surveillance mechanisms using AI are being put into place, the report says.

In one of the recent achievements, Lebanese security thwarted an endeavor to smuggle over 50 pounds of gold to Hezbollah through Beirut’s international airport, a senior security official tells the WSJ.

“There is reason for hope here,” says a senior US official working for the ceasefire mechanism overseeing a deal that ended over a year of Hezbollah-instigated fighting in November.

“It has only been six or seven months, and we have stepped to a place that I am not sure I thought was achievable back in November.”

The report says the Israeli and US officials feel there is work to be done, however. Israeli strikes continue to target Hezbollah operations in Lebanon, it says are in violation of the November ceasefire.

Ibrahim Mousawi, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon’s parliament, tells the WSJ that the terror group sustained heavy losses but claims there are ways for them to rearm: “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

He also says that allegations of the terror group’s control over the airport were exaggerated: “We are part of the system, just like any other Lebanese constituency.”