As fast as Hezbollah prepared, they couldn’t hide all the evidence in time for the visit by reporters.
Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu disclosure on Tuesday of a secret Hezbollah missile factory in the heart of a Beirut neighborhood, Hezbollah invited reporters to inspect the site. But apparently Hezbollah didn’t clean up as well as they thought they did.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly with a recorded message and warned that the massive explosion that leveled parts of Beirut in August was only one of several which are threatening Beirut and Lebanon due to Hezbollah’s military presence and buildup in the midst of the civilian population.
Pointing to a map of the Beirut, Netanyahu revealed the site of an alleged Hezbollah-run weapons production site situated next to a gas station and in the heart of a residential area.
He called on the international community to “insist that Hezbollah stop using Lebanon and Lebanese civilians as human shields.” Israel and the IDF have previously exposed Hezbollah weapons depots and productions site at various locations in Beirut.
Responding to Netanyahu’s exposure, Hezbollah’s Media Relations Department invited the media to inspect the site and “observe the mendacity of the enemy’s leader.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah announced the media invitation during his televised speech in which he responded to Netanyahu.
We just arrived in the Jnah neighbourhood that was pictured in Netanyahu’s presentation. pic.twitter.com/m59D1Bsohh
— Sunniva Rose (@Sunniva_Rose)
One of the reporters visiting the site noted that the Lebanese Hezbollah terror organization did not enable reporters full access to its alleged weapons production plant in Beirut on Tuesday evening. In videos of the media visit, a large contingent of Hezbollah members are present with the reporters, and they appear to be quite familiar and comfortable with the site.
The British Times’ Middle East Correspondent Richard Spencer who took up the invitation and visited the site, tweeted that “you will be shocked, shocked to read there are no missiles visible here.”
But Spencer then pointed out that the reporters were “not allowed into the office.”
Israeli diplomat Ohad Zemet added that “reporters were barred from neighboring rooms, which were said to be offices.”
“I wonder what kind of job was done in these offices?” he asked sarcastically.
Other parts of the facility were apparently also off-limits to most of the reporters.
But as fast as Hezbollah prepared, they couldn’t hide all the evidence in time for the visit.
Another reporter, from Al Mayadeen, was allowed into part of a closed area and snapped a picture of an advanced hydraulic CNC machine from Turkey, that is used for cutting and shaping metal tubes. Machines like these have specifically been found in the debris of sites in Syria suspected of having been missile factories.
כתב “אל-מיאדין” הורשה לבקר באחת המחלקות החשוכות במפעל שנתניהו סימן כמפעל טילים סודי ולמעשה חשף מכונת לחץ הידראולית מסדרה QC12Y, המשמשת בתעשייה לחיתוך ועיצוב צינורות מתכת. מכונה כזו נצפתה לא פעם, בתוך הריסות מתחמים תעשייה בסוריה שנחשדו כמפעלי טילים. pic.twitter.com/HrKkhdqfy4
— אינטלי טיימס – בלוג המודיעין (@IntelliTimes)
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The Jewish Press News Desk contributed to this report.