Lebanon prepares to receive commercial flights

Workers at Lebanon’s only airport today prepared to receive a full flow of commercial flights as Israel pledged to lift an air and sea blockade imposed nearly two months ago when the war with Hezbollah guerrillas erupted.

Israel’s announcement brought relief to the war-stricken country, but also set the first test for a UN peacekeeping force charged with keeping arms shipments from reaching Hezbollah.

Under the UN-brokered deal to lift the blockade, Germany will monitor Lebanon’s coastline, and its foreign minister was due in Beirut today to work out details – with a team of German experts to follow later.

The first Air France flight was expected to leave tomorrow morning from Paris to Beirut and the country’s transportation minister was to be on board, said French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking at a special parliamentary debate in Paris on the Lebanon crisis.

Lufthansa, the German airliner, said it was closely monitoring the situation and expected to act soon.

EgyptAir announced it would resume flights tomorrow, and Gulf Air has said it will start flying to Beirut on Saturday.

A Middle East Airlines flight from Paris, previously expected to arrive through Jordan – the only allowed path by Israel in recent weeks – instead was being delayed so it can fly straight to the Lebanese capital 10 minutes after the blockade was to be lifted.

The newspaper As-Safir summed up the developments with a blaring headline on its front page: “Lebanon under international monitoring … in the place of the Israeli blockade.”

Israel had come under international pressure to lift the blockade, which was threatening to derail a UN ceasefire that ended 34 days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

The blockade hampered rebuilding efforts, and business leaders said it cost the country about €36.8m a day.

Thousands of Lebanese families who fled the fighting are expected to now return home before the start of the country’s school year next month.

As part of the continuing diplomatic efforts to consolidate the August 14 cease-fire, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Beirut to meet with Lebanese officials.

He said after talks with President Emile Lahoud that there must a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East and an international conference would help achieve this.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was expected to make a stop on the weekend during a Mideast tour, Lebanese media reported.

The lifting of the blockade came after lengthy negotiations involving the United Nations, Israel and Lebanon after Israel insisted it wanted to make sure there were safeguards to prevent the rearming of Hezbollah.

The embargo, which business leaders have said cost the country about €36.8m daily, also was hampering massive rebuilding efforts. In addition, it cost the government an estimated €2.2m a day in lost tax revenues and customs fees.

Officials at Rafik Hariri International Airport began at first light today preparations for full resumption of operations in the evening.

The three runways had been repaired since the cease-fire took effect on August 14, and the airport reopened in a limited capacity three days later to flights of national carrier Middle East Airlines and Royal Jordanian.

But those flights were allowed only through Amman, Jordan, an Arab country that has a peace treaty with Israel.

Cracks in the blockade began to show when Qatar sent a plane last week and on Wednesday a flight came from Britain without stopping in Amman.

But it was not until the UN brokered a deal that Israel agreed to lift the blockade altogether.

The lifting of the embargo marked a major victory for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and it showed that with UN mediation, some of the outstanding disagreements might be resolved.

Israel is slowly pulling its troops out of southern Lebanon as international peacekeepers arrive.

However, a deal on the thorniest remaining issue – the return of two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture sparked the fighting – will be far more difficult to broker. Israel has demanded their unconditional release but Hezbollah has insisted on a prisoner swap.

The blockade at one point caused severe fuel shortages in Lebanon, leading to long lines at petrol stations and forcing the electric company to ration power.

But in recent weeks, some supply ships had been allowed to dock after co-ordinating with Israel, easing the fuel crisis and allowing the electricity authority to lift some rationing.

Under the UN-brokered deal, the Beirut government sent a letter to the United Nations yesterday evening – about the time the Israeli government announced the lifting of the blockade – requesting that Germany monitor shipping into Lebanon, a Lebanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the agreement.

About 3,250 UN forces are now in Lebanon, and UN officials expect that figure to reach 5,000 by late next week.

A UN ceasefire resolution calls for a 15,000-member UN force to patrol south Lebanon, along with 15,000 Lebanese soldiers, to prevent another outbreak of violence.

French peacekeepers began their first patrols of Lebanon’s bomb-ravaged border area yesterday and were greeted by villagers waving flags and taking pictures.