From: The Times of Israel February 17, 2025
Lebanon extends Iran flight ban after US says Israel might shoot down planes

Officials in Beirut announce indefinite suspension after halting 2 Iranian flights last week;
IDF has said Lebanon-based terror group using funds smuggled from Iran to rearm

Lebanese authorities said on Monday they had extended the suspension of inbound and outbound flights to Iran indefinitely, after originally barring Iranian planes from landing in Beirut until February 18

Authorities decided to “mandate the Minister of Public Works and Transport to extend the suspension period of flights to and from Iran,” the Lebanese presidency’s spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine told reporters after a cabinet meeting, without specifying when flights would resume.

The announcement came after Lebanon last week denied permission for two Iranian flights to land in Beirut, following allegations publicized by the IDF that Tehran was using civilian aircraft to smuggle cash to Beirut to arm the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.

Lebanese security forces told Agence France-Presse earlier that the ban came after the United States, which helped broker a November 27 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, warned that the IDF might shoot the planes down.

The IDF said last week that the Iran-backed terror group was using the funds to rearm and that it had passed information on the smuggling attempts to a US-led committee supervising the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.