Occupied Jerusalem: Iran is building sites to produce precision-guided missiles in Syria and Lebanon, with the aim of using them against Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
At the start of a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu accused Iran of turning Syria into a “base of military entrenchment as part of its declared goal to eradicate Israel.” “It is also building sites to produce precision-guided missiles towards that end, in both Syria and in Lebanon. This is something Israel cannot accept. This is something the UN should not accept,” Netanyahu said.
Guterres was in Occupied Jerusalem Monday to push Israel and Palestinian leaders closer to renewed talks on their decades-old conflict during his three-day visit that ends Wednesday, but the interests of Israeli leaders lie elsewhere for now.
They pressed Guterres on the UN peacekeeping force in neighbouring Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, accusing it of “blindness” to what they call an arms build-up by Hezbollah.
The trip comes as the UN Security Council debates renewing the force’s mandate for a year, with a vote expected on Wednesday.
After meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Guterres is due in Ramallah on Tuesday for talks with Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is visiting Turkey and is not expected to meet Guterres during the trip.
Guterres will then travel to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
After arriving on Sunday evening, the UN chief met Jason Greenblatt, a top aide to US President Donald Trump charged with pursuing Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Greenblatt was part of a US delegation last week including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner that held talks with Netanyahu and Abbas. He remained in the region for further discussions.
Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who took office in January, is likely to try to take steps to keep the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a viable option at a time when it is under threat.
Peace efforts have been at a standstill since April 2014 and Israeli colony building in the occupied West Bank has continued.
Trump has said he wants to reach the “ultimate deal” — Israeli-Palestinian peace — but he himself has cast doubt on the two-state solution, saying he could support a single state if it meant peace.
Such statements deeply concern Palestinians, while delighting right-wing Israelis who want their country to annex most of the Occupied West Bank.
