Nasrallah: Israel’s claims about Hezbollah using Beirut Port are baseless

Iran is not using the port of Beirut for military purposes, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, “categorically” denying claims made by UN Ambassador Danny Danon, calling them “baseless.”

He later referred to the issue of workers in Lebanon: “There is a difference between the work of the Palestinians and the other foreigners, since the Palestinians are under occupation and cannot return to their Palestinian homeland,” he said. The Hezbollah leader also said no one should mix naturalizing Palestinians in Lebanon and granting them labor rights.

He also hit back at accusations over protests in the country saying “some people conclude that Hezbollah and Hamas are behind the Palestinian demonstrations related to the work in Lebanon,” he explained, “but this is a shameful, immoral, and untrue.”

Nasrallah condemned the demolition of the houses in Sur Bahir at the beginning of the week. He also praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to stop implementing the agreements with Israel.

The Hezbollah leader stressed that “Israel is afraid of the cessation of coordination and this hurts it.”

IDF spokesman for the Arab media Lt. -Col. Avichai Adrei, responded to Nasrallah: “He is under great pressure in his shelter because of the economic crisis and the talks about his use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes. This time he decided to deny the accusations of using the port of Beirut to launch missiles. The residents of Lebanon know that Nasrallah is lying, and when we level accusations against him, they are based on facts as we have proven in the past regarding the tunnels at the airport in Beirut.”

“We are all aware of Iranian behavior in recent weeks,” said Danny Danon, Ambassador to the UN at a press conference last week. “We all know that Iran is using civilian planes in Syria, and that they have other capabilities besides flying... the Iranian regime uses the port of Beirut for military purposes and they are aided by commercial companies, mainly from Europe, in support of Hezbollah to develop its missile program. Unfortunately, the port of Beirut has become Hezbollah’s port.”