Israel lifted its air blockade of Lebanon yesterday after eight weeks, reported AFP quoting Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman. The first airliner from Paris with 150 passengers aboard landed at Rafik al-Hariri International Airport in Beirut.
Israel did not carry out its pledge to lift the sea blockade at the same time, citing the inability of a UN-backed multinational peacekeeping force to deploy enough ships off the coast to guarantee the arms embargo would remain intact. Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert said in a statement Wednesday that United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan had assured him that French, Italian, British, and Greek vessels would monitor the coast until the German Navy deployed in roughly two weeks.
