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BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah made no mention of weapons capability on Friday in his first speech since Israel claimed that the Islamic militant group has a missile-launching facility near Beirut's international airport.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's comments were his first since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month— holding up an aerial image of the alleged missile sites — accused Hezbollah in a speech before the U.N. General Assembly of setting up rocket factories near Beirut's airport and using civilian infrastructure to hide them.
Nasrallah made no direct comment about the allegations, only saying "we should not help the enemy in its psychological war against our country, people and government."
"Delivering free information even by denying is considered as a free favor for the enemy," Nasrallah added. He said his group is using what he called "intentional ambiguity."
Last month, Nasrallah boasted that Hezbollah now possesses "highly accurate" missiles despite Israeli attempts to prevent it from acquiring such weapons.
Nasrallah also blasted in his speech President Donald Trump for his repeated calls on Saudi officials to pay Washington for protection of the kingdom.
"The intimidation (of Trump's speech) aims to extortion. He is blackmailing them (Saudi Arabia) to sell them more weapons," Nasrallah said. "They will ask him for more protection and he will get more money."
Earlier this month, Trump said in a speech that he recently called Saudi's King Salman and told him: "I love the king, King Salman, but I said, 'King, we're protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military, you have to pay.'"
"Trump's greed has no limits," Nasrallah said.
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