Asharq Al-Awsat says Israel Threatens To Attack Beirut Airport To Thwart
Smuggling, Israel Channel 11 Talks of Diplomatic Effort
Dr. Aaron Lerner 10 December 2022

The Arabic language edition of Asharq Al-Awsat reported today that Israel
threatened to bomb Beirut airport if weapons are smuggled through Beirut
(see English translation below).

Roi Sharon on Israel Channel 11 news reported tonight that Israel was engaged in a
diplomatic effort to stop what is seen as an Iranian move to smuggle GPS
upgrade kits. which can be used to turn a rocket into a guided missile, via
Beirut Airport.

The Israeli reporter noted that to date Israel has declined to take any
action inside Lebanon against the ongoing weapons buildup there by
Hezbollah.

The reporter explained that Israel had a "balance of deterrence" with
Lebanon which could resolve this matter.

It should be noted that while there is no question that Hezbollah has
succeeded to deter Israel from acting inside Lebanon against Hezbollah's ongoing
preparations to attack the Jewish State, the decision by Hezbollah to postpone attacking
Israel until it completes converting thousands of rockets to GPS guided missiles
can be just as easily termed "patience" rather than "Israeli deterrence".

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Israel threatens to bomb Beirut airport if it receives Iranian weapons
Saturday - 17 Jumada Al-Awwal 1444 AH - December 10, 2022 AD Issue number
[16083]
https://aawsat.com/home/article/4035101/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A8%D9%84-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9
(AL: It is a long URL because part of it appears in Arab in the original)

Tel Aviv: Asharq Al-Awsat

Political circles in Tel Aviv revealed that Israel threatened the Lebanese
government to bomb Beirut airport, if it was used for smuggling Iranian
weapons, as it did with Syria.

The Israeli sources said that they were aware of what was broadcast by the
Al-Arabiya Channel that Iran was conducting probes and attempts to use a new
smuggling corridor through Beirut after the failure of the Damascus
corridor, adding that Tel Aviv is investigating Tehran's attempt to smuggle
weapons through civilian flights to Beirut airport.

The sources confirmed that the continuous Israeli air raids on Syria, in
recent years, have proven their worth and thwarted most of the Iranian
weapons smuggling operations to its armed militias in Syria and Hezbollah in
Lebanon, and destroyed a number of Iranian installations and sites on Syrian
territory and the infrastructure of the hosts (the Syrian regime's army).

These operations have left a great impact, and it was expected to search for
other ways for these weapons, but Israel will not deal with any leniency
with the transfer of Iranian weapons through Beirut airport. And it
conveyed, through a third party, a message that it will carry out harsh
military strikes against the airport in the event that any Iranian weapons,
ammunition or military equipment reach it.

Other sources in Tel Aviv linked the news of the use of Beirut airport to
transport Iranian arms shipments and the visit made by Hezbollah Secretary
General Hassan Nasrallah to Damascus and his meeting with President Bashar
al-Assad. She said that this visit, which took place two weeks ago, dealt
with the difficulties facing Iran and Hezbollah in Syria as a result of the
Israeli strikes.

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

The head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, commented on the
Israeli threat to bomb Beirut airport, in a statement that said: “The issue
raised in some media outlets that Hezbollah is bringing weapons from Iran
through Beirut airport is a delicate, dangerous and emergency issue that
deserves an urgent and necessary meeting of the caretaker government in
order to collect all the required data on this issue, and to take all
necessary measures to preserve the security and stability of the Lebanese
people at this delicate stage in their history.
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