Beirut, November 21 (RHC)-- A Lebanese daily newspaper has revealed that Western embassies in the Arab country are receiving “suspicious” arms deliveries in what is speculated as a move aimed at fortifying the diplomatic missions against Israel’s sporadic attacks on Lebanon.
The Beirut-based Al Akhbar daily said in a weekend report that Lebanon has been witnessing a “suspicious security movement,” as several Western military planes carrying weapons have arrived at Beirut International Airport since Israel launched all-out aggression on Gaza last month.
Stressing that the aircraft include U.S., British, French, and Canadian planes, the Lebanese paper said: “Some of the planes have also landed at a decommissioned airstrip in the Hamat military base.” The newspaper cited unspecified sources as saying: “A Canadian plane had landed at Beirut Airport and was found to be carrying various types of weapons (including silencers and detonators)."
The deliveries, as Al Akhbar said, came in the wake of “requests sent by foreign countries to Lebanon to allow the entry of weapons and ammunition, under the pretext of enhancing the security of its embassies and evacuating its nationals and diplomats.”
The paper said Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had listed the Western requests on the agenda of the last cabinet meeting; however, nothing was decided on.
Western and Arab states reportedly sent requests to Lebanese security services expressing “fear that their employees or nationals would be exposed to attacks against the backdrop of what is happening in Gaza.”
Elsewhere in the report, the daily newspaper cast doubt on a statement last week by the Lebanese army command that such movements are aligned with the “routine” transport of military aid. “They are suspicions regarding the aircraft entering and unloading their cargo, as it is not known to whom this equipment is going, and whether the destination is actually limited to the army,” said Akhbar.
The newspaper added that the move would be regarded as a possible “attack on the principle of sovereignty” in Lebanon.
Western embassies have not answered any questions about the shipments, the report said, underlining that diplomats have referred all questions to military attaches “who coordinate all steps with the Lebanese army and security forces.”
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has reportedly fired more than 1,000 rockets, mortars, missiles, and drones at Israel since October 8, a day after the besieged Gaza Strip came under heavy shelling by the occupation regime.
In early November, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said all options were on the table against Israel, urging the Zionist regime to stop its aggression against Palestinians in Gaza immediately.
Israel unleashed a bombardment campaign against Gaza on October 7, after the Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm in response to decades of violence against Palestinians.
According to the figures announced by Palestinian health authorities, at least 13,000 Palestinians, including more than 5,500 children and 3,500 women, have been killed in its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
