Destination war zone: How Lebanon's only international airport stays open amid Israeli strikes

Amid regular Israeli strikes, officials in Lebanon are working around the clock to keep the country's only international airport open.

BEIRUT — Columns of black smoke rose up to meet Middle East Airlines Flight 230 as it started its approach toward Lebanon’s only international airport.

It was shortly before midnight and Israeli fighter jets were roaring over the country’s capital, Beirut, after carrying out a wave of airstrikes against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Several of their targets were burning in neighborhoods immediately next to the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport.

The captain of ME230 began flying slow loops over the Mediterranean, monitoring his fuel gauge and hoping the Israeli warplanes would move away. But when they did not, a Lebanese air traffic controller began broadcasting on an emergency frequency, warning that the passenger plane needed to land before it ran out of fuel.

The March 6 incident, recounted to NBC News by Lebanese Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny on Friday, illustrates the stark challenge facing authorities as they try to keep the airport open even as Israeli strikes rain down around it on a near-daily basis.