BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon’s prime minister criticized on Friday a media tour organized by Hezbollah in south Lebanon, saying that the government of Lebanon was not informed beforehand and did not approve.
Saad Hariri spoke to journalists during a visit to south Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah organized a tour for journalists along the Lebanon-Israel border, during which armed militants from the group appeared in a U.N.-created border buffer zone meant to be free of Hezbollah presence.
The Hezbollah tour, intended to show journalists defensive measures taken by Israel along the border in the past year, was also criticized by other opponents of the Iranian-backed group as a provocation and a violation of a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that created the buffer zone.
Hariri, on his visit Friday, met with United Nations peacekeepers stationed in the area and renewed Lebanon’s commitment to international resolutions.
“What happened yesterday is something that we, as a government, are not concerned with and do not accept,” Hariri said. He struck a conciliatory tone, however, saying “there are political differences (with Hezbollah) that we put aside, and this is one of them.”