US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo conveyed to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other officials he met during his visit to Beirut, last week, an Israeli warning that Iran and Hezbollah were building a new plant to produce precision rockets on the Lebanese territory, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed on Tuesday.
The sources, citing two officials – one American and the other Israeli – said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed Pompeo, during his recent visit to Tel Aviv, of data, maps and satellite images showing that Hezbollah was secretly building a new plant for the production of precision Iranian missiles with the participation of experts from Tehran, adding that the project was not known until recently.
According to the sources, Netanyahu asked the US State secretary to deliver a sharp message to the officials in Beirut. They confirmed that Pompeo conveyed the warning to Hariri and the rest of the officials and went to explicitly express US concern over Hezbollah’s activity in Lebanon.
During his stay in Beirut last month, Pompeo met with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and President Michel Aoun, as well as Hariri.
He called on the Lebanese people to stand up to Hezbollah’s “criminality, terror and threats,” and claimed US sanctions on Iran and its Lebanese ally were working and that more pressure on them was forthcoming.
“Hezbollah and its illegitimate militia put the entire country on the front lines of Iran’s misguided proxy campaign,” Pompeo stated.
Source » aawsat