Cars pass in front of billboards bearing the slogan "Lebanon First" in Arabic, one of which has been set on fire along the Beirut airport road amid tensions following the signing of the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel on June 28, 2026. (Credit: Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — Two days after Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar said that banners thanking Iran would be removed from the Beirut airport road, they were replaced Saturday by billboards reading "Lebanon first" and "Lebanon unites us" with a Lebanese flag on a red background — only to be partially burned overnight Saturday into Sunday.
Photos taken Sunday by An-Nahar photojournalist Nabil Ismail show several of these billboards set on fire. Already late Saturday evening, the Lebanese Army had arrested two people involved in torching one of the billboards: a 20-year-old Syrian national and a 15-year-old Lebanese, local channel MTV reported.
This incident follows Friday’s signing of a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon, brokered by the U.S., and categorically and vehemently rejected by the Hezbollah-Amal duo, which had instead lauded Iran’s achievement of a cease-fire two weeks prior — a cease-fire regularly violated by Israel in southern Lebanon. A few days after the cease-fire, billboards featuring Iran's new Supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and his late father, Ali Khamenei (killed by Israeli strikes on Feb. 28), along with the slogan "Thank you to loyal Iran," were displayed along the Beirut airport road.
Hajjar insisted the decision to remove them was “part of efforts to organize public spaces and ensure the enforcement of existing laws and regulations.”
The Beirut airport road, which passes through Beirut’s southern suburbs and neighborhoods largely supportive of Hezbollah, has frequently been the scene of symbolic battles and protests in recent years.
In 2022, the Tourism Ministry asked both Hezbollah and the Amal Movement to remove certain billboards lining the road that depicted religious and political figures revered by the two groups. The ministry requested that billboards promoting Lebanon’s tourism sector be displayed in their place.
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