Following Hezbollah’s refusal to make use of the René Mouawad airport in Qlayaat and any other airport and to have the Beirut Rafic Hariri international airport operate exclusively, opposition parliamentary circles demanded that the BIA road be placed under an international umbrella after it became clear that it was unsafe and subject to Hezbollah’s moods and policies. Hezbollah exploits the BIA road according to its agenda as a pressure card, in addition to the fact that the airport is also subject to its interests. As a result, the airport highway and the BIA itself are no longer safe.
Recently, demands have been made to open the port of Jounieh to tourism and passenger traffic, as well as the René Mouawad airport in Qlayaat, in order to avoid the interruption of air communications between Lebanon and abroad in the event of war and a disruption of traffic at BIA, although, according to American guarantees, BIA will not suffer the consequences of a possible conflict.
Political circles recall the guarantees given by US envoy Amos Hochstein that Beirut, BIA, and the southern suburb of Beirut would be spared in the event of retaliation, but Israel targeted Fouad Shokr, right in the heart of Beirut’s southern suburb.
