"Hezbollah is storing arms for use against Israel in the homes of Lebanese civilians who live near the Israeli border, and Israel will respond with great force if those missiles and rockets are actually fired at Israel, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday.
It is important that both the Lebanese government and residents of southern Lebanon be aware of this, he added.
Lieberman also told the visiting secretary-general that Iran is working to set up factories to manufacture precision weapons within Lebanon. This is intolerable for Israel, which is determined to prevent any threat to its security, he said.
Lieberman accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of making the situation in Gaza worse, charging that Abbas' goal is to spark another Hamas-Israel war. Hamas is equally to blame for Gaza's woes, Lieberman added, since it invests most of its money in digging tunnels and manufacturing or smuggling arms rather than improving life for its residents Gaza.
Lieberman added that Hamas still holds both Israeli civilians and the bodies of two fallen soldiers in the Gaza Strip, but refuses to return them or even provide any information about them. It also refuses to allow the Red Cross to visit the captives.
Aside from being cruel, this is a violation of international law, he said, and he expects the UN to speak out on this issue and pressure Hamas to return the missing and fallen Israelis..."