Whistleblowers Accuse Hezbollah of Stockpiling Iranian Weapons at Beirut Airport

A photo taken during a tour organised by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transpo
ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Staffers at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Lebanon on Sunday blew the whistle on Hezbollah for putting their lives in danger by stockpiling smuggled Iranian weapons at the civilian facility.

“This is extremely serious. Mysterious large boxes arriving on direct flights from Iran are a sign that things got worse,” one of the whistleblowers told the UK Telegraph on Sunday.

WATCH — Joel Pollak Travels to the Front Lines on the Israel-Lebanon Border:

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News

Other sources said Hezbollah is hiding a huge inventory of Iranian unguided rockets, ballistic missiles, laser-guided anti-tank missiles, and explosives at the airport.

The airport workers have good reasons to worry. The Port of Beirut was virtually blasted off the face of the Earth in August 2020 by an explosion that remains mysterious because Hezbollah has thwarted all investigations into its source. It is widely suspected the Beirut Blast was caused by a poorly maintained Hezbollah explosives dump.

The Iran-backed terrorist gang and political party is also spoiling for a fight with Israel, which has demonstrated its refusal to let terrorists hide their weapons behind civilian human shields.

The Associated Press

This image from a video, shows smoke and dust rising from collapsing silos damaged during the August 2020 massive explosion in the port, in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 23, 2022. (AP Photo)

“For years I have been watching Hezbollah operating at Beirut airport, but when they do it during a war, it turns the airport into a target,” one of the whistleblowers told the Telegraph. “If they keep bringing in these goods I’m not allowed to check, I really believe I’ll die from the explosion or I’ll die from Israel bombing ‘the goods.’”

“It’s not just us, it’s the ordinary people, the people coming in and out, going on holiday. If the airport is bombed, Lebanon is finished,” the nervous airport worker said.

Several of the whistleblowers said Hezbollah second-in-command and security chief Wafiq Safa has become a constant presence at the airport, probably to intimidate customs workers into silence.

Airport staffers who play along with Hezbollah “walk around like peacocks” showing off the expensive gifts they received, even as Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty and chaos. Lebanese opposition politicians said Hezbollah’s control of the airport, and its abuse of the facility as a conduit for weapons smuggling, is fairly common knowledge.

The Associated Press

Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carry out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

“A lot of money being passed under the table,” one of the whistleblowers grumbled.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement confirming that it will indeed strike the airport if Hezbollah starts a war with Israel and turns the facility into a military target.

“Hezbollah’s strategy to hide weapons and operate from civilian neighborhoods stems from its intentions to draw the IDF to target these civilian areas in times of escalation. If Hezbollah were to target Israeli civilians from these sites, the IDF would have no choice but to react, potentially placing Lebanese civilians in harm’s way, causing international outrage toward the IDF,” the statement said.

“The entrenchment of Hezbollah is everywhere, not only in the airport but in the port, the judiciary, it’s across society. The public administration now is largely hijacked by Hezbollah and it’s very difficult to remove that without changing the militia-backed power game that exists today,” said opposition MP and former deputy prime minister Ghassan Hasbani said.

Hezbollah-controlled Lebanese government officials denounced the Telegraph report as “ridiculous” and claimed they would file a lawsuit against the British paper for slandering them. 

The Associated Press

Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carry out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

“We have nothing to hide,” Hezbollah-linked Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh said, castigating “The Telegraph’s report today is based on sources and officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of Great Britain. who made an official visit to the airport of Beirut about two months ago, therefore the Telegraph must rely on official British sources,” Hamieh said, without evidence. The Telegraph report clearly stated that its sources included staff at the airport.

Hamieh invited reporters to take a tour of the airport and see that no weapons were stored there but, when reporters took him up on the offer on Monday, Hezbollah officials prevented them from entering the air cargo center.

Hezbollah has been showering Israeli civilian areas with rockets and drones ever since its fellow Iran-backed terrorist gang Hamas perpetrated the October 7 atrocities and launched the Gaza war.

Hezbollah published a video on Saturday night threatening large-scale attacks against specific Israeli facilities, including Ben Gurion airport, two power plants, the Leviathan gas field in the Mediterranean, the port city of Ashdod, and the Dimona plutonium reactor. Israeli officials have said Hezbollah’s continued presence along the border with Lebanon poses an unacceptable risk to civilian lives.

U.S. and U.N. officials fear that a major conflict between Hezbollah and Israel could bring Iran into the Gaza war as an active participant, rather than attacking through proxy forces, as it has done until now.

“Should the Zionist regime launch an attack on Lebanon and initiate a broad conflict with Hezbollah, the Axis of Resistance will not remain passive. A harsh and decisive response will be delivered to counter the Zionists’ malice,” Iranian ground forces commander Kioumars Heydari threatened on Sunday.

Heydari claimed Iran’s massive missile and drone attack on Israel in April has “altered many old strategic formulas, leading to a new reality in the region” by demonstrating Tehran’s military power. The attack was almost completely intercepted and caused no major damage in Israel, but Iranian regime media portrays it as a stunning success that left the Israelis terrified of Iran’s growing power.

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