Jordan Times
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Jordan Army engineers
extract three unexploded bombs from Beirut airport runways
Team will soon begin reconstruction of some of the 80 bridges destroyed in air
strikes
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN — The Royal Jordanian Engineering Corps
have removed three unexploded MK-84 bombs from two runways at Beirut’s Rafiq
Hariri International Airport, enabling Lebanese authorities to begin maintenance
work.
Commander of the corps, Colonel Zuheir Azzam, told The Jordan Times during a
telephone interview yesterday that the engineers, who started work on defusing
the bombs last Friday, extracted the three bombs late Monday, detonating them on
waste ground outside the airport perimeter.
“The bombs were buried some eight metres deep in the runways, and the corps, in
cooperation with the Lebanese army bulldozers, managed to dig around the bombs
and remove them,” said Azzam.
He added that a fourth bomb of the same type remains buried nine metres deep in
one of the runways.
“This bomb was not detonated or defused because directly under it lies a layer
of water and the bomb is deep inside this water. Therefore, it was left in its
place as it will not cause any damage and with time will corrode because of the
seawater,” Azzam said.
The airport in Beirut was the first to be hit by Israeli warplanes and gunboats
on July 13 after the capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid by
Hizbollah. The Israelis bombed all three runways as well as fuel tanks at the
airport.
According to Azzam, a total of 26 MK-84 bombs were dropped on the airport during
the Israeli attacks.
The US-made MK-84 is a free-fall, nonguided general purpose one-tonne bomb.
The MK-80 series Low Drag General Purpose (LDGP) bombs are used in the majority
of operations where maximum blast and explosive effects are desired. These bombs
are designed to be aerodynamically streamlined. Their cases are relatively light
and approximately 45 per cent of the total weight is explosive material.
Meanwhile, teams from the Royal Jordanian Engineering Corps will head today to
parts of southern Lebanon along with Lebanese army officers to decide locations
for military bridges, said Azzam.
The engineering corps will assist the Lebanese in building bridges, as more than
80 were destroyed during the Israeli attacks.
The engineers are currently waiting for the steel to arrive by sea, which is
expected within a week to 10 days.
When the bridge structures arrive, more than 200 engineers from Jordan will head
to Lebanon to set up the bridges and link villages and towns together to
accelerate the transfer of medical and humanitarian assistance.
“It takes from two to four days to install a military steel bridge,” said Azzam.
Commercial flights between Amman and Beirut continued over the weekend despite
the continuing Israeli air blockade.
Royal Jordanian (RJ) officials said that passengers on these flights were mainly
Lebanese returning home after fleeing the conflict.
Aviation sources here announced on Monday that all flights in and out of Beirut
airport are required to stop in Jordan for security checks.
The measure follows an announcement by Lebanon’s national carrier Middle East
Airlines (MEA) that it has resumed flights to all international destinations.
Royal Jordanian and MEA are currently the only airlines flying to Beirut.
Director of the Jordan Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Suleiman Obeidat, told
The Jordan Times that secondary inspections are carried out by an airport
security unit in line with international security inspection codes.
No reasons were given for the inspections but a senior industry source told
Reuters that the enforced stop in Amman was a condition set by Israel, which is
determined to stop Hizbollah rearming.
“They say it’s for security checks. It’s not an acceptable reason. It’s part of
the pressure that is being put on Lebanon by Israel,” the source, who preferred
anonymity, told Reuters.