Wafiq Safa, second in command in the Hezbollah terror group was identified as the man in charge of the airport where weapons and explosives were said to be stockpiled after arriving in shipments from Iran.
The UK-based news outlet Telegraph revealed on Sunday that Hezbollah was hiding a significant weapons stockpile at the Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport and named Hezbollah’s second in command Wafiq Safa as a major figure in charge of its dealings in the airport.
An airport employee told the newspaper Safa maintained close ties with customs control. His name and involvement in both the country’s sea and airport have been repeatedly highlighted, including in the U.S.-imposed sanctions placed on him, which cited him as responsible for smuggling operations, including drug and weapon shipments that aren’t inspected.
The Telegraph noted Safa is infamous at Beirut Airport. "Wafiq Safa is always showing up at customs,” one whistleblower claimed, citing close relationships with the customs managers. “I feel like if we don’t do what they say, our families will be in danger.”
Safa is considered close to Hezbollah Director-General Hassan Nasrallah. He heads Hezbollah's Liaison and Coordination Unit, working with Lebanese security forces and led the unit as early as 1987.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department's website, Safa exploits Lebanese ports and border crossings to facilitate Hezbollah terrorists’ travel. The site adds that, together with senior Hezbollah member Mohammad Raad, Safa was involved in attempting to secure foreign citizenships for 100 Hezbollah operatives who were to be sent on "long missions" in Western or Arab countries.
As a member of Nasrallah's close circle, Safa was part of the negotiation committee Hezbollah established in 2000 during the kidnapping of three IDF soldiers on Mount Dov – Benyamin Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Sawaid. The three bodies were returned to Israel in 2004 in a prisoner exchange deal.
Safa also participated in negotiations for the return of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped by the terror group shortly before the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
On the day of their release in 2008, he adamantly refused to provide information on their fate, keeping Israeli citizens and families in suspense until the two’s bodies were retrieved.