JERUSALEM, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Thursday accused Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia of stepping up efforts to create precision-guided missile production facilities in Lebanon, endangering the Lebanese people.
In a rare overview about its intelligence findings, the Israeli military told reporters that between 2013 and 2015, Iranian forces attempted to transfer, via Syria, precision-guided missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Most of these convoys were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes, the army said.
In the wake of the failure to send missiles to Lebanon, in 2016, Iran and Hezbollah shifted their strategy from transporting missiles to converting existing rockets into precision-guided missiles on Lebanon soil, according to the army.
Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, told reporters that over the past few months, Iran and Hezbollah have "intensified" their attempts to build production facilities of the upgraded missiles in Lebanon.
He accused Iran and Hezbollah of "endangering Lebanon."
Conricus said that it was time for the Lebanese government "to understand their responsibility and understand the fact that what they are letting Hezbollah and Iran do on Lebanese soil is "their responsibility."
"They are the ones complicit in endangering Lebanon and Lebanese civilians which Hezbollah and Iran are using as human shields," he said.
The Israeli military also exposed the identities of Iranian officials who are allegedly behind the efforts to establish the production facilities, which Israel considers a major escalation.
The army released the information after an alleged Israeli drone attack has destroyed what was a facility for precision-guided missiles in Lebanon earlier this week.
Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a bloody war in 2006, were on high alert over the past days in the wake of a series of Israeli airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon.
