Hackers show anti-Hezbollah messages on Beirut airport screens

Local media in Lebanon have shared footage of hacked screen displays at Beirut's airport terminal showing anti-Hezbollah messages.

Media reports said the airport message on Sunday urged the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah not to "drag the country into war" with Israel and that the airport was "not the airport of Hezbollah and Iran."

"Hassan Nasrallah, no one will support you if you drag the country into war," the message said, addressing the group's leader, also saying "we will not fight on behalf of anyone."

"You're going to blow up our airport by bringing in weapons. Let the airport be freed from the grip of the (Hezbollah) statelet," the airport message added.

Lebanon's National News Agency said "the cyberattack on the departure and arrival screens at the airport disrupted the BHS baggage inspection system."

It added that authorities were working to restore the screens "and to maintain normal movement at the airport."

Local media circulated images of the message criticizing Hezbollah, displayed onscreen alongside the emblem of the Christian "Soldiers of God" group.

The group has declined to comment when contacted by AFP. It later released a video statement appearing to deny involvement in the cyberattack, describing it as "the work of the devil."

The "Soldiers of God" group is mostly known in Lebanon for its hardline stances and attacks against the country's LGBTQ community.

The broadcast of the message came a day after Hezbollah said it fired more than 60 rockets at an Israeli military base in response to the strike that killed Hamas' number two leader, Saleh al-Aruri in Beirut last week.                          

WITH AFP