Hezbollah hits back at Barak over accusations

Hezbollah responds to Tel Aviv’s accusations that Lebanon had not complied with a UN resolution, describing them as ‘lies to boost the morale among Israelis’.

Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that Israel has been routinely breaching the UN Resolution 1701 that ended the 33-day war in 2006.

Qassem believes that Israel’s frequent border violations aim at improving the morale inside the Israeli army, which suffered a heavy defeat in Lebanon and Gaza.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had earlier warned that Tel Aviv would not distinguish between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah in case of any security development on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

“Hezbollah and the Lebanese cabinet will be equally responsible should any decline on the northern border take place, and we will not differentiate between them,” Barak said during a meeting held by the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee on Tuesday.

He went on to say that Lebanon had failed to comply with the UN Resolution 1701.

Barak made the remarks after some Western media alleged that Hezbollah was stockpiling 40,000 rockets near the Israeli border and was training its forces to use ground-to-ground missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv’s accusations against the Lebanese resistance movement come while the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) have repeatedly warned about Israel’s daily violation of Resolution 1701.

“We have daily air violation of Lebanese territory (by Israeli planes), we have repeatedly asked the Israeli government to refrain from breaching the UN resolution”, Andrea Teneti, UNIFIL Deputy Spokesman said.