Lapid cites 'multiple' Hezbollah attacks as official says gas can stabilize Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has hinted that Hezbollah’s launching of three unarmed drones towards the Karish gas field on Saturday was not the first such activity, mentioning that there had been “multiple attacks.”

"We had a long discussion about Lebanon, we presented intelligence on Hezbollah and its activities," Lapid told a small group of reporters after his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.

He gave no details, but said the information was "connected to the attacks on the gas rig."

"Multiple attacks were carried out against Israeli gas rigs. Israel will not accept this kind of aggression against its sovereignty and whoever does it must know that they are taking a risk," Lapid said earlier in Paris.

"Hezbollah has more than 100,000 rockets in Lebanon, aimed at Israel. It tries to attack us with Iranian rockets and UAVs," he said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles. "Israel will not sit back and do nothing, given these repeated attacks," he warned.

Until Tuesday, neither Israel nor Hezbollah had mentioned anything about previous “attacks” on Israel’s gas rigs.

Israeli news website ‘Walla’ had reported Friday that in 2016, “divers from Hezbollah's elite force reached, at least in one case, to the maritime border area and crossed into the Israeli side to examine the Israeli underwater technology.”

“In another case that year, a buoy placed by the navy on the border fell into their hands and was swept to the Lebanese side,” Walla added.

An Israeli government official meanwhile told AFP after Lapid met with Macron that "one of the key factors to stabilize Lebanon would be its ability to become an exporter of gas."

The Lebanese government had signed a deal with French oil major Totalenergies and "therefore France is a player on the issue," the official said.