RHIA Head Reassures on Airport Security after Terror Plot Reports

Head of Rafik Hariri International Airport Fadi al-Hassan has reassured on the airport's security situation after unconfirmed media reports said the facility was one of the targets of the terrorist Islamic State cell that has been busted by security forces in recent days.

“The reports were about intentions to stage acts of sabotage and one cannot at all say that the airport's security measures have been breached,” al-Hassan told Kuwaiti daily al-Rai in remarks published Sunday.

He reassured Lebanese, Arab and foreign travelers that “all scenarios have been taken into consideration in the measures that have been taken around and inside the airport.”

“The measures are in place around the clock and we are reassured about the integrated measures that have been taken to protect this vital facility and its users,” al-Hassan added.

Informed sources meanwhile told al-Rai that “it would have been difficult for the IS terrorists to infiltrate into the airport and carry out what they had planned.”

“In light of the possible threats, the airport has turned into a fortified fortress amid the public and clandestine security measures that rely on manpower skills and technological assets,” the sources said.

“It is difficult to penetrate the consecutive security barriers outside and inside the airport, and these measures had entered into force after IS started targeting airports around the world,” the sources added.

Unconfirmed media reports have said that “four Yemenis” were supposed to carry out the airport attack but that only one of them had managed to enter Lebanon before being arrested in connection with an IS plot to attack a restaurant in Beirut's southern suburbs.

The four Yemenis were supposed to “enter the airport, lob hand grenades, open fire and blow up their suicide vests in order to ensure maximum casualties,” the reports said.

The General Directorate of General Security had on Saturday issued a statement saying some media outlets had made “inaccurate conclusions” regarding the locations that the terrorists had intended to target and the possible scenarios.

It also urged “accuracy” in the reporting of “sensitive security matters,” calling on media outlets to contribute to “bolstering the security that Lebanon is enjoying and to create a climate of reassurance among Lebanese expats and Arab and foreign tourists.”