BEIRUT: Lebanese group Hezbollah on Sunday urged the Lebanese government to reverse a decision blocking Iranian flights from landing in Beirut, following US warnings. The group said in a statement that it “demands that the government reverse its decision to ban Iranian planes from landing at Beirut airport and take serious measures to prevent the (Zionist) enemy from imposing its dictates”

Lebanese aviation officials have told Iran that Iranian flights to Beirut are suspended until Tuesday, Hossein Pourfarzaneh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, was quoted as saying on Sunday by the Iranian state news agency IRNA. A Lebanese source told AFP on Saturday that Lebanon had denied permission for Iranian flights to land twice last week, after the United States warned the Zionist entity might strike the airport. The first incident occurred on Thursday, when Lebanese authorities sent word to Iran that a Beirut-bound flight should not take off.

“Through the Americans, (the Zionist entity) informed the Lebanese state that it would target the airport if the Iranian plane landed in Lebanon,” the source said. “The American side told the Lebanese side that (the Zionist entity) was serious about its threat,” the

source added. Lebanon’s public works and transport ministry then refused clearance for the flight, after consulting the prime minister and president, the source added. The message was passed on before the flight took off, said the source.

Another flight was also barred from taking off from Iran on Friday, prompting protests in Lebanon from Hezbollah supporters, who blocked the road to the airport. “The security of Beirut airport takes precedence over any other consideration,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Saturday. “And the safety of travelers as well as the safety of Lebanese citizens are elements on which we will not compromise.”

The decision to block the flights came after the Zionist military warned that Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah were using civilian flights to and from the airport to smuggle money to be used to re-arm the Lebanese group. Lebanese media on Sunday reported Zionist gunfire killed a woman as Washington pressed Beirut to disarm Hezbollah, two days before a deadline in the ceasefire between the Zionist entity and the group.

The fragile ceasefire between the Zionist entity and the militant group has been in effect since Nov 27 after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war. Both sides have traded accusations of violations, and the Zionist entity on Saturday said it targeted a senior fighter from Hezbollah’s aerial unit, in a strike that Lebanese official media said killed two.

On Sunday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said Zionist forces opened fire towards the southern border town of Hula “after residents entered”, killing a woman. Under the ceasefire deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period. Hezbollah was also to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 km from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. The withdrawal period was extended to Feb 18. – Agencies