Hizbullah Minister Dismisses Israel Missile Site Claims as 'Lies, Illusions'

Israel's claims about the presence of missile sites for Hizbullah near Beirut's airport are “lies and illusions,” a Hizbullah minister has said, in the group's first comment on the allegations.

“Let us leave (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to his lies and illusions. Let him talk and incite the way he wants. We will only say that the Resistance has its capabilities -- as Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said -- and we are concerned with repelling his aggression and any new aggression on Lebanon,” caretaker Sport and Youth Minister Mohammed Fneish said.

“The Israelis know very well what awaits them if they carry out any attack on Lebanon. If they do not know, they will be surprised,” Fneish added, in an interview with the Central News Agency.

During his address before the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Netanyahu claimed that Hizbullah has positioned three missile sites near Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.

Netanyahu also held up what he called "a picture worth a thousand missiles" and titled "Beirut Precision Guided Missile."

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adrai meanwhile published pictures of the alleged sites on Twitter.

He said the sites include the football stadium of the Hizbullah-affiliated al-Ahed club, another site near the airport and the Ouzai fishermen's harbor.