Lebanon's heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group on Friday denied using Beirut's sea port to import arms in response to an accusation by Israel's United Nations envoy this week.
"I completely deny the claim of the Israeli representative in the Security Council that Hezbollah uses the Beirut port to transfer weapons or weapon components into Lebanon," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
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He said the Israeli comments were aimed at bringing multinational forces to impose controls over Lebanon's sea, air and land borders.
Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said on Tuesday that in 2018 and 2019, "Israel found that Iran and the Quds Forces have begun to advance the exploitation of civilian maritime channels." He said Beirut port "is now the Port of Hezbollah."
"Led by the Quds Force, dual-use items are smuggled into Lebanon to advance Hezbollah's rocket and missile capabilities," Danon said, referring to items that can have both a military and civilian purpose, and hence can be transferred through normal trade routes.
"Iran and Hezbollah were able to purchase dual-use equipment from civilian companies while concealing the true nature of these purchases," he said.
Lebanon's UN ambassador Amal Mudallali said the accusation was tantamount to "direct threats" to Lebanon's civilian infrastructure.
Iran set up Hezbollah in the early 1980s to battle Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000. Israel and Hezbollah fought another brief war in 2006 and Israel has called Hezbollah the biggest threat on its borders.
