Iran looking to create airborne supply line to Hezbollah – report

After fall of Assad regime, Tehran scrambling to find alternative route to supply Hezbollah, including possible build-up of Beirut airport as major terror hub – even if it means violating the ceasefire in Lebanon.

By World Israel News Staff

The Iranian government is evaluating the possibility of creating an airborne supply route directly to Lebanon in an effort to bolster its proxy forces in the area, chief among them the Shi’ite terror group Hezbollah, The Times reported.

According to the report published Sunday night, Iran recently resumed direct flights between Tehran and Beirut but has been forced to redirect the routes of the flights to avoid entering Syrian airspace following the collapse of the Assad regime.

The rebel alliance, which seized control of Syria earlier this month, has barred Iranian aircraft from entering the country’s airspace, Walla reported over the weekend.

While the provisional Syrian government’s ban was originally aimed at Iranian military aircraft, it reportedly became evident by Sunday that the prohibition had been extended to all Iranian planes.

Having lost both the land-based supply routes that connected Iran to Lebanon via Iraq and Syria and the use of Syrian airspace, Tehran is now under pressure to find an alternative path to transfer weapons and other equipment to Hezbollah.

According to a regional source cited by The Times, Iran is considering massively upgrading its operations in Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport and turning it into a major logistical hub for Iranian proxy forces abroad.

Such a move, however, would violate the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which went into effect on November 27, and thus risk reigniting the fighting between the IDF and Iranian proxies in Lebanon.

Western powers, the source told The Times, are “concerned that Iran has lost [Damascus as] its go-to airport in the region for smuggling weapons and is now trying to turn the Beirut airport into its new logistics hub, just as they did in Syria.”

This, the source added, “could lead to the next escalation.”