Lebanon Closes Beirut Airport During The Funeral Of The Late Leader Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah Sunday

Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon. (Wikimedia Commons/Captainm)

JAKARTA - Lebanese civil aviation authorities announced that Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut will be closed for four hours on Sunday, during the funeral of the late Secretary General Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah.

"The airport will be closed, and take off and landings will be halted on February 23, 2025, fromsaman afternoon to 09:00 p.m.," the authorities said in a statement broadcast by the official media on Tuesday, quoted by Arab News February 19.

The funeral ceremony will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the sports stadium on the southern outskirts of Beirut, the base of Hezbollah.

The funeral series will include a speech by the current Hezbollah Leader Naim Qassem, before continuing with the procession to the Nasrallah burial place.

Hezbollah said 79 countries would be involved in the warning, both at the official and "popular levels".

Qassem on weekends called for broad participation as a show of the group's strength.

"We want to turn this funeral into a show of support and affirmation of plans and approaches (Hezbollah), and raise our heads high," Qassem said.

In Tehran, Iran confirmed it would send a high-level delegation to the funeral of the late leader of the militant group Hezbollah this weekend, despite the ban on Iranian passenger planes flying to Lebanon.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told a news conference Monday that Nasrallah's funeral would be very important, so Iran would participate in the highest level, quoted from IRNA, although it did not elaborate further on who would attend.

On Monday, the Lebanese authorities announced extending the ban on flights in and out by Iranian flights ending on February 18.

The announcement comes after Lebanon last week denied permission for two Iranian flights to land in Beirut, following allegations published by Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Tehran used civilian aircraft to smuggle cash into Beirut to arm Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.

Earlier, Lebanese security forces told AFP the ban came after the United States warned the IDF might shoot the plane down.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation of Lebanon said on Thursday it had "temporary rescheduled" several flights, including from Iran, until February 18 as it was implementing "additional security measures."

In addition to Nasrallah's funeral, Sunday's funeral will also be held for Hashem Safieddine, a senior figure in Hezbollah who has been chosen to replace Nasrallah.

Qassem said Nasrallah would be buried on the outskirts of Beirut "in a plot of land we chose between the old and new airport roads."

Meanwhile, Safieddine will be buried in his hometown, Deir Qanun in southern Lebanon, he added.

Prior to this weekend's funeral, Nasrallah had been temporarily buried in an undisclosed place due to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, pending a safe situation for normal burials.