Says Airport Is Entry Point For Weapons

Saying the airport is a major entry point for weapons and personnel supporting the radical Hezbollah movement, on Thursday Israeli air force jets bombed three runways at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, bringing to a halt all operations -- civil, and otherwise -- at the middle eastern airport.

Israel struck the airport a second time Thursday night, with helicopter gunships firing missiles to take out fuel tanks and other structures at Lebanon's only international air facility.

Israel says the attacks -- part of a larger military strike against Lebanon, in response to Hezbollah's taking of two Israeli soldiers as hostages Wednesday -- are intended to stop the flow of arms into Lebanon from Iran. MSNBC reports many believe those arms are coming in on a daily 747 cargo plane from Iran... and that Beirut International is the only airport in the region that can handle the large aircraft.

Incoming flights to the airport -- including a plane carrying Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh back from a trip to Armenia -- were diverted to airports in Cyprus, Jordan and Dubai. Several of the planes that were at the airport when it was bombed were able to leave the airport -- without passengers -- via the airport's taxiways, to seek refuge at other locations.

In addition to preventing arms from coming into Lebanon -- which has only recently begun to experience a resurgence in its economy, after years and years of turmoil -- Israel said the air strikes are also meant to prevent Hezbollah from flying the captured soldiers out of the country.

Smaller fields in Northern Lebanon have also been bombed, as have military bases in the region.

FMI: www.iaf.mil, www.beirutairport.gov.lb