BEIRUT: Lebanon will lodge a complaint against Israel at the UN Security Council accusing it of disrupting navigation systems and civil aviation around Beirut airport, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
Since the Gaza war erupted in October, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally, has been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army.
Lebanon will “submit an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council about Israel… disrupting navigation systems and civil aviation safety” in the skies around Beirut airport since the start of the Gaza war, the foreign ministry said in a statement on the official NNA news agency.
Hezbollah head says Lebanon could be ‘exposed’ to more Israeli attacks
The ministry statement condemned “Israel’s deliberate policy of jamming air and ground navigation systems, and deliberately disrupting devices receiving and transmitting signals”.
It did not provide further details of the alleged disruption.
On January 7, the departures and arrivals screens at Beirut airport came under cyberattack, with media airing footage showing anti-Hezbollah messages displayed instead and baggage conveyor belts that had ground to a halt.
Those behind the airport hack have yet to be unmasked, with Public Works and Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh admitting Lebanon lacks cybersecurity expertise.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, at least 323 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters but also 56 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally.
In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in the cross-border exchanges.
Comments