The belligerent climate between Lebanon and Israel continued during the UN Security Council. The two sides opened fire on each other with no attempt to tone things down.
The simultaneous explosions of loudspeakers and other telecommunications devices in Lebanon this week were nothing more than “terrorism” and now “no one in the world is safe”, the Lebanese foreign minister said yesterday Friday, speaking in an accusatory tone, characterizing Israel ” “evil” state.
“Detonating remote communication devices en masse, without the slightest concern for who carries them, or who is around them, is a method of warfare unprecedented in its brutality and the terror it causes,” he targeted “thousands of people of various ages at work, in their homes, on the streets, in malls — this is nothing but terrorism,” Abdullah Bou Habib stressed to SA.
Earlier, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Habib called on the Security Council to “force Israel to stop” the attacks on his country, warning that otherwise there would be a “big explosion” in the region, from which “you must understand that it will not escape neither the West, nor the East — will take us back to the Middle Ages.”
Israel “wider war” but to “protect” its citizens
On the part of Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, he stressed that he cannot rule out new operations against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement. “We will not allow Hezbollah to continue its provocations. Its actions violate international law and Israel will defend itself.”Mr Danon said.
He said that since October 8, when Hezbollah opened a front on the Lebanon-Israel border to support its ally, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, its fighters have fired more than 8,000 rockets at his country. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands displaced in northern Israel, it said.
Mr. Danon also criticized Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib for not once mentioning the name of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in his speech. “Instead of blaming us, our peaceful neighbors,” he quipped, “you should be taking action now to contain Hezbollah.” He also complained that you “allowed” a “terrorist organization to create a state within a state”.
“We know that the real problem is not Lebanon, the real problem is Hezbollah,” he continued and said that he offered to “sit down (…) and find a compromise solution of some kind.”
“If you continue to ignore Hezbollah’s aggression, you will be responsible for the suffering of the Lebanese people,” he added, assuring that his government does not want a “wider war” but to “protect” its citizens.
Also asked by the press about the attacks in Lebanon using buzzers and radios that had been rigged with explosives, Mr. Danon said he did not want to comment. “But I can tell you that we will do everything we can to target these terrorists,” he added.
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