General Security Director-General Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has issued instructions that aim at facilitating the entry of Iraqi nationals into Lebanon through the Beirut Airport.
Maj. Gen. Ibrahim said on Sunday that he had instructed airport security to dedicate “special corridors without fingerprints” for Iraqi nationals at the Beirut Airport, adding that additional procedures would be implemented in the following days in regards to Iraqi arrivals.
The move came in response to an incident that took place a day prior at the airport, namely the physical assault of Iraqi travelers who had been forced to wait for hours to get their visas.
The incident prompted Iraqi First Deputy Speaker Hassan Karim Al-Kaabi to demand an investigation as well as a formal apology from Lebanon.
It was initially reported that the Lebanese airport security apparatus was behind the physical assault, but the Iraqi Foreign Ministry later clarified that the incident was “only a personal fight, resulting from the crowding of passengers arriving at the airport and their standing in long queues.”
The ministry affirmed that Maj. Gen. Ibrahim had “instructed the facilitation of all procedures for Iraqis to enter Lebanon, easily and smoothly, in accordance with the procedures in force in this regard.”
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