Interim Lebanese Foreign Minister Jubran Bassil has accused Israel of fabricating excuses to carry out an attack on Lebanon. Bassil was responding to comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly during which he said that Hezbollah was using hidden missile sites near Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.
"Here is Israel again fabricating excuses to justify an assault and preparing to violate the sovereignty of states using an international platform," Bassil wrote on his Twitter account late Thursday, as reported by dpa. Israel has forgotten that "Lebanon drove it out and defeated its aggression."
Bassil was referring to the 33-day war Israel launched in 2006 against the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, during which the Iranian-backed group claimed victory. During his U.N. speech, Netanyahu held up aerial photos of Hezbollah weapons storage sites in the Lebanese capital Beirut, and accused Iran of directing the militant organization to build secret sites to convert projectiles into precision-guided missiles capable of targeting Israel. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday dismissed Israeli claims that Tehran was harboring a secret atomic warehouse, describing them as "arts and craft show."
