The IDF has placed Lebanon under lockdown to prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself with Iranian weapons after its arsenal was depleted in Israeli strikes.
Since the targeted killing of Hassan Nasrallah in the terror group's underground command bunker in the Dahieh quarter of Beirut on Friday, the Air Force has repeatedly attacked Lebanese heavy machinery sent to rebuild six military border crossings to Syria, damaged in previous strikes.
The aftermath of strikes in the Dahiya
The military also informed Lebanon officially that it would not allow cargo planes arriving from Syria and Iran to land at Beirut's international airport. Earlier on Saturday, an Iranian cargo plane was refused landing permission and had to return to Iran. The IDF breached communications at the control tower and warned against allowing the plane to land under threat of attack.
According to reports, Israeli jets attacked an industrial area 500 meters from the airport. Reuters quoted a security source who said it was the closest strike yet to the airport. Middle East Airlines CEO Mohammad al-Hout said the airport was operating normally. "The Beirut airport is not being targeted, there are no weapons there," al-Hout told Reuters.
Civilian travel and border crossings would not be impacted, the IDF said. Thousands of Lebanese civilians crossed into Syria in recent days, many of them hoping to escape the Israeli attacks.
But if an Iranian ship attempts to dock in a Lebanese port, it may encounter Israeli action off the Lebanon coast.
Some 600,000 Lebanese residents of the South have left their homes heading north and 400,000 residents of the Dahieh, Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern sector of Beirut have also escaped the bombings.