UNIFIL vehicle torched as Hezbollah supporters block airport road anew

A vehicle emblazoned with the logo of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon was torched late Friday as supporters of Hezbollah again blocked the road to Beirut airport.

The charred vehicle lay abandoned by the roadside as Lebanese troops deployed in response to the protest and managed to reopen the road and restore order in the area.

UNIFIL said its outgoing deputy commander was injured in the incident.

“We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security and stability to south Lebanon during a difficult time,” it said.

It said that the deputy commander — Maj. Gen. Chok Bahadur Dhakal from Nepal — had been set to leave the country after completing his mission when the UNIFIL convoy “was violently attacked, and a vehicle was set on fire.”

The Lebanese Army said in a statement that acting commander Maj. Gen. Hassan Odeh had contacted UNIFIL and promised to “work to arrest the citizens who attacked its members and bring them to justice.”

In another statement, the army pledged to take firm action against those who attacked the UNIFIL vehicle and peacekeepers.

"Several areas, particularly the area around the airport... have been the scene of demonstrations marked by acts of vandalism and clashes, including assaults on members of the armed forces and attacks against vehicles" of the United Nations, the army posted on X, adding that troops would take "firm action to prevent any breach of public order and arrest troublemakers." The army also warned that such actions threaten to create dangerous internal tensions.

Protesters later blocked the Salim Salam and Ring highways in Beirut, before the army managed to reopen them.

It was the second straight day that Hezbollah supporters had blocked the airport road in protest at a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing.

Iran accused Israel on Friday of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut. Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Lebanon's only airport to transfer weapons from Iran and struck the area during its war with the Tehran-backed militant group which ended late last year.

The Iranian foreign ministry said that "the threat by the Zionist regime to a passenger plane carrying Lebanese citizens has disrupted normal flights to Beirut airport".

The statement by ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei did not specify the nature of the threat attributed to Israel, but comes after Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had warned the army was prepared "to thwart" any attempts to transfer funds or weapons to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have denied Israel's claims that Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport was used to arm the militant group.

Baqaei condemned Israel's "gross and continuous violations of the principles and rules of international law and violations of Lebanon's national sovereignty".

He also called for the International Civil Aviation Organization and other world bodies "to stop Israel's dangerous behavior against the safety and security of civil aviation".

Lebanon's Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Thursday it had "temporarily rescheduled" some flights including from Iran until February 18 as it was implementing "additional security measures".

That date coincides with the deadline for the full implementation of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military's Adraee has said that Iran and Hezbollah "have been exploiting... the Beirut international airport through civilian flights, to smuggle funds dedicated to arming" the group.

After the airport protests on Thursday, Lebanese authorities said they were working to bring back Lebanese passengers stranded in Iran with planes belonging to the Beirut-based Middle East Airlines.

But Saeed Chalandari, CEO of Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport said on Friday that Iran had rejected the proposal.

"Naturally, we do not agree to their request, because if there is to be a flight between the two countries, it must be a two-way flight," Chalandari told Iranian news agency Tasnim.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, said that Tehran could agree to the Middle East Airlines evacuation flights "on the condition that they (Lebanese authorities) don't block Iranian flights."