Lebanon seeks to dispel Israeli allegations of rocket sites

A Lebanese soldier stands guard as Gebran Bassil and diplomats visit the Ahed football club in Beirut. Photo / AP

Lebanon's Foreign Minister has led dozens of ambassadors to locations near Beirut's international airport, including a golf course and a football stadium, seeking to dispel Israeli allegations of secret Hizbollah rocket facilities.

In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Lebanese militant group of setting up rocket factories near the airport and hiding them among civilians, holding up an aerial image of the area with the alleged missile sites labelled.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said his Government would not allow rocket facilities near the airport and that Hizbollah is "wiser" than to place them there. He said Netanyahu's claims were based on "inaccurate" estimates without any "compelling evidence". "Lebanon demands that Israel ceases its madness," he said.

Bassil said yesterday's tour, which included the ambassadors and several reporters, was not "a fact-finding mission" but part of a "counter-diplomatic campaign" to rebut the allegations, which he said could serve as a pretext for an Israeli attack. Israel and Hizbollah fought a devastating month-long war in 2006 in which Israel bombed the runways of Beirut's airport.

Hizbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah recently boasted that his group now possesses "highly accurate" missiles despite Israeli attempts to prevent it from acquiring such weapons. The comments prompted an angry response from Netanyahu, who said Hizbollah will "receive a lethal blow it can't imagine" if it confronts Israel.

Bassil acknowledged Hizbollah's claims, but said "this doesn't mean that those missiles are present in the vicinity of Beirut airport".

The first stop on the tour was a golf course near the Rafik Hariri International Airport. Then the group went to the nearby Ahed football club, where they toured the underground locker rooms and gym beneath the stadium and spoke to club officials.

Netanyahu had said there was a missile site beneath the stadium.

"We come here for soccer and for fun. We also have our kids here. That is all we have here," said Mohammed Zriak, a player on the team, whose fan base largely consists of Hizbollah supporters.

The last stop was at a warehouse in Ouzai, a Hizbollah-dominated neighbourhood near the airport, which appeared to have been abandoned and was littered with plastic bags and napkins. It was not clear if it was one of the sites mentioned by Netanyahu. The tour did not go to a third site indicated by Netanyahu as a dock by the waterfront.

In a statement, Netanyahu accused Hizbollah of "brazenly lying to the international community" and derided what he called a "fraudulent propaganda tour." He accused the Lebanese Foreign Minister of taking the group to a football field but skipping a nearby missile factory.

"The ambassadors should ask themselves why they waited three days before making the tour," he said.

At least one participant appeared to have been convinced by the tour.

Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin of Russia, which along with Hizbollah is a close ally of the Syrian Government, described the tour as "very good". "What we saw today are facts. There is a club and stadium. I can't imagine a secret thing happening in these places. We saw that with our own eyes."

- AP