Beirut, Lebanon - June 24, 2024

Storyline:
Lebanon will take legal action against British newspaper The Telegraph for its report claiming that Hezbollah is using a civilian airport in Beirut to store ammunition and missiles, a senior Lebanese official said on Monday.

The report, published on Sunday in The Telegraph, claims that "whistleblowers" had allegedly reported the arrival of unusually large boxes on direct flights from Iran to Beirut via the Rafic Hariri International Airport.

In response to The Telegraph's claims, the Lebanese government organized a tour for some ambassadors and journalists to the Air Cargo Center at the airport.

The Lebanese government accused the British newspaper of tarnishing its reputation.

The Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon said that the presence of the ambassadors on the tour sent a message of support to Lebanon.

Shotlist:
Beirut, Lebanon - June 24, 2024:
1. Various of journalists, officials at airport;
2. Various of airport, aircraft;
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Hamieh, Lebanese Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transportation (partially overlaid with shots 4-5):
"We invited all the ambassadors and the invitation was a general invitation for a field visit on the ground and to all the airport's facilities, the most important of which are the export and import centers at the airport, which account for 20 percent of the export and import traffic at the airport, concerned with providing services to the Iranian plane referred to in the Telegraph's report. The Telegraph tried to tarnish the reputation of the Rafic Hariri International Airport. Therefore, we are conducting a legal study with the Presidency of the Lebanese government about the necessary legal measures to be taken."
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE];
4. Cargo at airport;
5. Journalists, cargo at airport
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE];
6. Journalists, officials at airport;
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Alaa Moussa, Egyptian Ambassador in Lebanon (partially overlaid with shot 8):
"We were pleased to visit Rafic Hariri Airport at the invitation of Minister Ali Hamia, and it was an opportunity to see how the airport works, and we inspected some of its facilities, and heard from the officials here how things are managed here in terms of security and technical matters, especially concerning import and export. The other ambassadors and I are not responsible for inspecting Beirut Airport and looking for prohibited items, but the purpose of our presence is to send a message of support to Lebanon.";
FILE: Beirut, Lebanon - Sept 24, 2022
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
8. Various of traffic;
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
FILE: Beirut, Lebanon - Feb 16, 2023
9. Various of traffic;
10. Various of cityscape.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]