\nBEIRUT: Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil responded to what he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s \u201callegations\u201d in his speech to the UNGA on Sept. 27 claiming that Hezbollah had missile launchers near Beirut\u2019s Rafic Hariri International Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nBassil gathered foreign ambassadors to Lebanon and representatives of the diplomatic missions and UN organizations in the ministry\u2019s headquarters in Beirut about \u201cfalse allegations\u201d from the UN forum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nBassil said that the international community bears the responsibility for \u201caccepting false allegations launched from the UN forum, and this is your responsibility, especially the permanent members in the UNSC.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe US ambassador, Elizabeth Richard, was absent because she was traveling, but prominent attendees included the ambassadors of Russia, France, Britain, the EU, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nHowever, Arab ambassadors and diplomats missed Bassil\u2019s tour to the area, which Netanyahu said housed Hezbollah\u2019s rocket launchers, in the Ouzai neighborhood, part of Beirut\u2019s southern suburb.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nRussian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin was keen to be present for every part of the tour.<\/p>\n
\nThe tour, which was accompanied by journalists and photographers, started from the golf course that Bassil said \u201cNetanyahu raised its (the hangar\u2019s) image in front of the UNGA audience.\u201d Instead of heading to the hangar, the delegation went to the Al-Ahed stadium, which Israel claimed was a missile platform. \u201cThe doors are open to see everything, we are a sports club, we played 47 games without a loss,\u201d a stadium official said. \u201cWhat\u2019s under the stands is changing rooms.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nBassil insisted on going to these places accompanied by cameras. The stadium official said that it was \u201cfinanced by FIFA Goal and built by the Jordanian Mondo Construction company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe delegation, which decreased in number and was limited to media professionals, went to a hangar near the airport in a residential neighborhood. Bassil stopped in front of it without entering, prompting a journalist from the Daily Star newspaper to request entry into the hangar if \u201cMinister Bassil sticks to transparency.\u201d An attempt was made to open the hanger in the presence of the Lebanese army, and it turned out to be an abandoned factory.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe realities and facts must be taken, and this is an opportunity for that,\u201d Russian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin said in a statement from the assembly point at the golf course before the tour began. \u201cThe region has been in a state of emergency for years, including between Lebanon and Israel and the triangle of Lebanon, Israel and Syria, and we stand to prevent any escalation,\u201d he said. \u201cAs for the future, we will act depending on facts, not assumptions, and we will maintain normalcy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBassil explained the reason for organizing the tour. \u201cThe foreign ministry is not a fact-finding committee and we do not operate as an Israeli scout. This is the exact location, the airport area. When Netanyahu spoke about it, we know Israel\u2019s intentions, and because he spoke from the UN forum, we had to emphasize that the airport is an airport for peace, for the reconstruction of Lebanon and Syria and linking Lebanon to the world and the Lebanese diaspora, so we decided not to remain silent and this initiative will not be repeated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cNetanyahu is running away from his accusation of corruption to an external issue to throw lies and accusations that do not frighten us, but could cause confrontation, as is happening now,\u201d Bassil told the diplomats.<\/p>\n
\nHe also spoke about Israel\u2019s continued violations of international resolutions. \u201cIt did not respect Resolution 1701, it violates our airspace, our land and our land. It violated our land, air and marine space 1,417 times in the last eight months, more than 150 times a month, all registered at the Ministry of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBassil said that \u201cIsrael is used to exercising fabrications and it exercised this from the UN forum on Sept. 27, with the allegation of the presence of three platforms near the airport. This is not based on information or evidence, and Lebanon is raising its voice now to prevent any attack or Israeli intention to strike Lebanon, which will destabilize the region in light of the presence of Palestinian and Syrians refugees in our country. Lebanon will not be the victim of any settlement in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt is illogical to hide rockets near an international airport. It is true that Hezbollah has missiles, but they are not near the airport,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe say to Hezbollah, if this is true, I do not think it is in the interest of the airport, its movement and security around it. This cannot happen with Hezbollah\u2019s wisdom and understanding of Lebanon\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBassil said that the response to the Israeli army spokesman, Avichai Adra\u2019i, \u201cwill be through the Lebanese army.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAdra\u2019i had addressed Bassil, before the diplomatic gathering in the Lebanese foreign ministry, saying \u201cWhat are you going to tell the ambassadors? You are supposed first to stop Hezbollah\u2019s terror and withdraw its arms from Beirut Airport\u2019s area.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDid you check well if Hezbollah was still using the sites we have uncovered or is it just a show?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lebanese Foreign Ministry responds to Netanyahu with diplomatic tour of ‘missile launcher’ sites BEIRUT: Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil responded to what he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s \u201callegations\u201d in his speech to the UNGA on Sept. 27 claiming that Hezbollah had missile launchers near Beirut\u2019s Rafic Hariri International Airport.\u00a0 Bassil gathered foreign ambassadors…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}