Washington has reportedly issued a stern warning to Lebanon’s leaders to take immediate action over Hezbollah’s precision-guided missile factories, or risk Jerusalem taking matters into its own hands. According to the Saudi-owned Al Hayat newspaper, a delegation led by U.S. Acting Assistant-Secretary for Near-Eastern Affairs David Satterfield confronted Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the growing prospects of war, unless the Hezbollah weapons manufacturing issue has been settled. Satterfield reportedly provided evidence Beirut with maps, images and other irrefutable evidence while conveying the message that the Trump Administration cannot disregard the documented presence of the missile sites, and “cannot restrain Israel from taking action against (them).”
Israeli defense officials have declined to comment on any imminent plans to strike the reported Iranian-funded missile factories in Lebanon, although the IDF has repeatedly launched strikes against storehouses and convoys transporting arms from Iran through Iraq and Syria to its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon.