From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Hezbollah supporters protest Lebanon’s prevention of Iranian planes landing in Beirut
Hezbollah supporters block the Beirut airport road and burn tires to protest a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing in the Lebanese capital, state media and an airport official say.
“Young men set tires on fire in front of the airport entrance, raising banners supporting Hezbollah’s former secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah,” Lebanon’s National News Agency says.
Some of the young men raised Hezbollah’s yellow flag and held pictures of Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli strike in September, as well as Iran’s slain IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
The Lebanese army was deployed there, the NNA says, with videos online showing scuffles between angry protesters and soldiers.
Protesters gather and burn tires near Beirut International Airport after the Lebanese government denied an Iranian plane from landing there today. pic.twitter.com/YtOFJhc2OS
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) February 13, 2025
It appears the protesters’ ire is directed at the Lebanese government and airport authorities for allegedly capitulating to Israeli pressure to cancel the flight.
Last night, the IDF said that Iran’s Quds Force has, in recent weeks, been using civilian flights to smuggle cash to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon via the Beirut international airport, and that the Israeli military has been regularly updating a US-led committee supervising the ceasefire with information to foil the attempts.
A member of parliament from Hezbollah’s political wing, Ibrahim Moussawi, says in a statement that the plane was prevented from flying “as a result of an Israeli threat” to target it.
Some reports suggest the reason was suspicions that funds meant for the terror group were on the planes.
An official at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport tells AFP that the Public Works and Transportation Ministry asked the facility to inform Mahan Air that Lebanon could not welcome two of its Beirut-bound flights.
One flight was scheduled for today and another for tomorrow, says the official, who requests anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
