Al Manar TV, run by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah party, reported that the party is in possession of documents that state that a Portuguese military plane carrying eleven passengers, who remained unidentified, made a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Beirut.
The party said that this flight was the first of its kind in the history of Lebanon and is considered a direct violation of the Lebanese law.
The plane, according to the report, landed in Beirut on November 21, which is the same day when the Lebanese Minister of Industry, Pierre Gemayel, was assassinated.
Also, the report noted that the flight remained grounded at Beirut airport for seven hours after landing there at 11:30 a.m.
The Israeli Ynetnews reported that the mid-sized Falcon warplane reportedly left Lisbon for Tel Aviv and from there flew directly to Beirut, then took off from Beirut at around 7 p.m. to an unknown destination.
Ten passengers were on the plane, they got off and eight others replaced them before the plan flew again.
The Hezbollah TV added that the plane did not pay airport taxes, and that the passengers were on “official business".
Lebanese officials said that all direct flights from Tel Aviv to Beirut are illegal according to the Lebanese law, and that all flights from Tel Aviv to Lebanon must fly through a third place, which is usually Lamaka, Cyprus whic his one frequently used destination.
The Ynetnews added that informed Lebanese sources said that the bodies which usually authorize landings are the airport's general administration or general civilian aviation administration in Lebanon or the aviation monitoring administration.
The Ynetnews also said that one of the administrations employ the services of four American experts who work in shifts on the second floor of the airport and earn USD 120,000 a month on a project "whose details are unknown".
