Lebanon FM says Israel may strike Beirut airport in war with Hezbollah

BEIRUT — Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said on Tuesday that Lebanese authorities have been warned that Israel could hit the country’s vital infrastructure, including its only functioning airport, in the event of another war with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group should the latter decide to join a potential battle between the United States and Iran.

What happened: “There are signs that the Israelis could strike very hard in the event of an escalation, potentially including strategic infrastructure such as the airport,” Rajji told reporters in Geneva, where he was attending a UN Human Rights Council session.

He said his government has urged Hezbollah not to get involved in a US-Iranian escalation, which could trigger “bad situations” for Lebanese civilians. He also revealed that the country's authorities have reached out to Western partners to pressure Israel to spare Beirut's infrastructure if conflict breaks out. 

Two senior Lebanese officials told Reuters on Tuesday that Israel said in an indirect message to Beirut that it would attack civilian infrastructure including the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport if a war breaks out with Hezbollah.

What it means: Concerns are growing in Lebanon about Hezbollah potentially attacking Israel in support of its backer, Iran, in the event of a military escalation with the United States.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem alluded last week to his group’s readiness to engage in a military confrontation with Israel in support of Iran.

“With authenticity, jihad, resistance, a commitment to truth and a readiness to sacrifice, we will not allow them to achieve their goals,” Qassem said in a televised speech last Monday, referring to the United States and Israel, Iran’s archrivals.

In a speech on Jan. 26, Qassem said his group would not remain neutral in a war against Iran.

Hezbollah, Iran’s strongest proxy in the region, has previously sent fighters to back Tehran’s partners in Syria and Yemen. Most recently, in October 2023, the Shiite paramilitary group launched rockets into Israeli territory in support of Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggering the 13-month Israeli war on Lebanon.

Rajji’s remarks came one day after the US Embassy in Beirut evacuated dozens of its staff members through the international airport. The US State Department confirmed on Monday it had ordered non-essential US government personnel and their family members to leave Lebanon “due to safety risks.”

Tensions are escalating in the region amid a US military buildup in the Middle East, in a show of force against Iran. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, arrived on Tuesday in Greece's Souda Bay en route to the Middle East, where it will join at least nine additional US Navy destroyers and another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Know more: In Lebanon, Israel has continued to launch near-daily airstrikes despite a ceasefire that ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024, accusing the group of attempting to rearm in violation of the truce agreement.

The Israeli attacks have intensified in recent weeks amid a possibly imminent military confrontation between the US and Iran.

On Tuesday, however, a group of Lebanese soldiers came under Israeli fire near the southern town of Marjayoun, in a rare incident involving the Lebanese military.

The Lebanese military said in a statement that the fire occurred when an Israeli drone hovering at low altitude ordered the soldiers to leave the area, and that the incident was referred to the UN peacekeeping forces for review. The Israeli military has not yet commented.

The Lebanese military has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure and seizing weapons in south Lebanon in line with the ceasefire. It now plans to start with the second phase of a plan to extend state control over all weapons north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the border with Israel.