I had to go to Paris so that my children could go to school. But on Tuesday, I received an email saying that my flight had been canceled. I don’t know what to do now,” Anna,* a Lebanese mother told L’Orient-Le Jour.

Her remarks reflect the major fear that has been haunting the Lebanese since the start of the war on Sept. 23. Could Israel target Beirut airport? This fear is legitimate particularly since it is the country’s only civilian airport and is located in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has been shelling on a daily basis.

So far, Beirut’s airport has not yet been in Tel Aviv’s crosshairs, mainly due to U.S. pressure. The Lebanese authorities are taking security measures to avoid a worst-case scenario. But “Lebanon has no guarantees in this regard,” said a senior government source. This could give fresh impetus to the opposition’s battle for another airport to be opened.

Caretaker Prime Minister Nagib Mikati chaired a meeting on airport security on Monday. Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi and caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamiyeh (representing Hezbollah) whose ministry has supervisory authority over Beirut airport, attended the meeting. Lebanese Army Chief Joseph Aoun was also present.

L’Orient-Le Jour learned that the discussions focused on how to reinforce the Beirut airport’s security. “We know that no one will touch the airport unless it is used for arms trafficking [for Hezbollah],” said the above-mentioned government source.

It was therefore to reinforce and tighten airport security measures that Mikati convened the meeting. But there is obviously another objective.

“In formal terms, the meeting served to send to the countries involved in the ongoing conflict the clear message that today the military institution is the one in charge at the Beirut airport,” a source familiar with the meeting told L’Orient-Le Jour.

This idea was evident in Hamiyeh’s remarks at the end of the meeting. “The ministry only approves the landing of military aircraft carrying medical aids or those carrying out evacuation missions once the army has given the green light,” he said. The airport’s security service is also there, carrying out the necessary inspections, when needed, he added.

Mawlawi said that his ministry would be “issuing strict instructions” to this service so as to keep Beirut’s airport out of any danger.

L’Orient-Le Jour learned that these decisions were taken at a time when the airport is currently operating at 35 percent capacity. Several sources consistently said that Middle East Airlines, the national carrier, is the only one operating at Beirut airport. All other carriers have suspended their flights, fearing Israeli strikes.

The information Lebanese political circles received from diplomatic channels about “Israeli pledges” not to bomb the airport would therefore be far from calming apprehensions. In fact, Hamiyeh told AFP on Tuesday that he had only obtained “commitments,” not a firm “guarantee” that Israel would not strike Beirut airport, a few days after the Israeli army had warned, through its Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, that it will not allow Beirut airport to be used for arms trafficking for Hezbollah.

Yet U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller raised the issue at a press briefing on Monday. The U.S. “has made clear” to Israel that it wants the roads leading to the airport in Beirut to “continue to be operational” so that U.S. nationals, and others, “who want to leave, they can get out,” he said.

it’s very important for the US that the country’s only airport continues to operate.

Especially as US nationals wishing to leave the country are being helped to do so, a U.S. diplomatic source in Beirut told L’Orient-Le Jour.
The same is true of France.

“We are not yet in the process of evacuating our nationals. We are assisting their voluntary departure,” said a French diplomat in Lebanon. The diplomat added that Paris plans to evacuate its nationals by sea only if Beirut airport ceases its activities altogether.

“To avoid this eventuality, our political and diplomatic efforts towards a cease-fire continue,” said the above-mentioned French diplomat. French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noel Barrot, visited Israel on Tuesday as part of a tour that could also take him to Jordan, the diplomat added.

The opposition is back in the fray

Awaiting these efforts to bear fruit, the Lebanese authorities “continue to do their job” in this regard, said the above-mentioned senior government official.

The anti-Hezbollah MPs were back in the fray, calling for another airport to be opened as a matter of urgency.

“It’s intolerable that the country should continue to have just one airport structure,” said Kataeb MP Salim Sayegh, whose party called for the reopening of the Qlayaat airport in Akkar a few months ago. While he said he sees “no valid reason” behind not inaugurating a new airport, Sayegh nevertheless pointed out that “what matters most to us is access to the Beirut airport. That’s what needs to be maintained.”

Some parliamentary circles, however, did not beat around the bush. “Some people don’t want Christians and Sunnis to have airports,” said an MP who declined to be named.
MP Waddah Sadek pointed to other reasons. “Obviously, I’m in favor of opening a new airport. But I’m realistic. It’s impossible to open such a building site in the middle of a war for technical and logistical reasons, such as security systems and General Security checkpoints, to name but two examples,” he told L’Orient-Le Jour.