Hezbollah's deputy leader says he's 'not threatened' by PM's speech
Naim Qassem claims Lebanon's terror group is prepared to face 'Israeli aggression,' which he adds is unlikely to happen, and labels prime minister's remarks during UN General Assembly as 'unsuccessful show.'
The remarks were made in response to the claims Netanyahu made during his speech at the UN General Assembly last Thursday when he identified three locations near Beirut airport where he said the Shi'ite group Hezbollah was converting "inaccurate projectiles" into precision-guided missiles.
"We are not interested in or threatened by Netanyahu's unsuccessful show,” the deputy leader stressed.
“We are fully prepared to deal with the Israeli aggression if it happens, even though we do not expect it, and it does not affect the hard work we put in to improve our preparedness and our weaponry," Qassem vented.
Qassem, who spoke at a conference in Beirut, also suggested the terror group’s resistance is what led to the May 2000 withdrawal of Israeli military forces from southern Lebanon.
"As we fought on the battlefield, those on the background chanted: ‘No, you can’t,’ but in the end we achieved victory after victory. It’s proven by the 2000 withdrawal and the 2006 liberation (Second Lebanon War-ed). The victory of the resistance axis is the victory of Lebanon,” he exclaimed.
Earlier on Wednesday, thousands of residents of the Dahieh suburb south of Beirut, an area controlled by Hezbollah, received anonymous mobile phone notifications warning them they live in close proximity to a Shiite terror group’s weapons storage compound that has the potential of exploding at any moment, the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday, implying also that Israel is responsible for incident.
"Important message, near your home, a Hezbollah site has been established, proceed with caution,” read the mysterious Watsapp message.
According to the Arab newspaper, Israeli political sources refused to comment on the claim that Israeli intelligence is behind the messages.
Immediately after Netanyahu’s speech at UNGA speech the IDF released video evidence of what it said were Hezbollah rocket building sites in Beirut.
The IDF said Hezbollah also has other sites within and outside of Beirut where its members have been working to create an infrastructure intended to stockpile precision missiles in the future.
According to the military’s intelligence, one of the sites is located inside a Hezbollah soccer stadium while another is adjacent to the Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport.
On Monday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, spoke to foreign ambassadors before taking them on a tour of the area mentioned in the prime minister’s UN speech, where Bassil reiterated that there were "many statements ... affirming the possession of accurate missiles by Hezbollah. However, this does not mean that these missiles are present in the vicinity of Beirut airport." he stressed in an apparent attempt to dismiss Netanyahu’s claims.
Reuters contributed to this report.
