BEIRUT - Militants loyal to Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition on Thursday began removing roadblocks on the highway leading to Beirut's international airport, paving the way for commercial flights to resume, an AFP correspondent said.

A Middle East Airlines plane was set to arrive in the early evening, the first commercial flight since incoming and outgoing services were suspended a week ago.

"An MEA flight from Paris is scheduled to arrive from Paris at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) and will depart to Larnaca, Cyprus at 8:30 pm," an airport official said.

Lebanon's only international airport had effectively been shut down since last Thursday because of the worst sectarian unrest to hit the country since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Crowds of people gathered on a bridge overhead to watch as tractors piled sand and rock into trucks as they dismantled the roadblocks.

"The airport is the pulse and life of the country," said Samih Karneb, 45. "At least now there won't be any more shows of force. Each side knows their size."

Abbas, 26, said that opening the airport motorway was "a beautiful sight," while a soldier standing nearby disagreed, telling AFP that "it shouldn't have come to this in the first place.

"Are we supposed to be happy about this?" he asked.

The violence in Lebanon over the past week, which left 65 people dead and 200 wounded, was sparked by a government crackdown on Shiite Hezbollah, whose militants blocked the highway to the airport in response. -AFP