BICOM

Israel has sent a warning to the Lebanese Government that if it fails to act against missile factories built by Hezbollah and Iran near Beirut, Israel could take military action.

The message was delivered by Israel’s deputy National Security Adviser Eitan Ben-David to Orléan la-Chevalier, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron, during the latter’s visit to Jerusalem on Monday, according to Israel’s Channel 10 news.

Western diplomats told the news channel that Israel’s message said: “The Lebanese government should be careful regarding Hezbollah’s missile factories and if the issue will not be dealt with and solved by the Hariri government Israel will act independently.” Ben-David said Israel would be willing to wait to see if Lebanon took steps against the factories, but said it would not allow their construction to continue undisturbed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in his speech at the UN General Assembly in September that Hezbollah is producing precision-guided missiles and is acquiring technical expertise from Iran to convert non-precision missiles into precision missiles to hit Israeli cities. He revealed that one of the missile factories is located under a soccer field, another is just north of the Rafik Hariri International Airport, and the third is underneath the Beirut port and less than 500 meters from the airport’s tarmac.

Netanyahu told the UN: “Israel also knows what you’re doing. Israel knows where you are doing it and Israel will not let you get away with it.”

Lebanese President Michel Arun denied Netanyahu’s claim that Iran was upgrading Hezbollah missiles at secret facilities inside Beirut, taking journalists and diplomats on tours of some of the sites several days after the Israeli Prime Minister’s UN speech.

Yesterday, Netanyahu told Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov: “We uncovered recently several Iranian attempts to launch terrorist attacks on the soil of Europe, and we stand together in this battle against terrorism and against militant Islam.”