Washington, April 28: Israel and the US repeat their claims about the enormity of arsenals owned by Hezbollah and Syria’s alleged arms transfer to the Lebanese resistance movement.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak in Washington on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates claimed Hezbollah currently wields “more missiles than most governments in the world.”
He renewed Washington’s accusations against Iran and Syria of providing the Lebanese movement with military aid.
Barak also told reporters that Syria was transferring weapons systems to Hezbollah and that Israel is closely watching the developments.
The two were echoing Israeli President Shimon Peres who earlier accused Syria of arming Hezbollah forces with Scud missiles, a claim that — though backed by the US — drew a wave of rejections and concerns of new war mongering efforts by Israel.
Both Hezbollah and Damascus have dismissed the allegations and accused Israel of making an attempt to raise tensions in the Middle East region.
Lebanon’s Prime Minster Saad Hariri ridiculed the allegations and likened them to US claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction before invading the country in 2003.
“These allegations are lies and are laughable,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told reporters on Saturday during an official visit to Lebanon.
Lebanese officials have cautioned that Israeli allegations about Hezbollah’s weaponry are aimed at justifying another war on Lebanon.
Amid Tel Aviv’s mounting threats, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday said his country is not interested in war with Israel but is fully prepared to repel any Israeli invasion against its territory.
——-Agencies