Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun Warns Israel Against ‘Aggression’

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president says his country will confront any Israeli aggression, the latest volley in a war of words over Israeli accusations of secret Hezbollah rocket sites near the Beirut airport.

In a tweet Tuesday, Michel Aoun said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allegations — made during an address to the U.N. General Assembly last week — were “baseless,” calling them a “new Israeli threat to Lebanese sovereignty.”

Netanyahu had displayed an aerial shot of the area with the three alleged rocket sites labeled. Lebanese officials took ambassadors and reporters on a tour of some of the alleged sites on Monday, seeking to dispel the accusations.

Netanyahu derided the tour as “propaganda” and said it skipped a nearby missile factory.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating monthlong war in 2006.