Beirut - Lebanon has complained to the United Nations about recorded voicemail threats sent to Lebanese mobile phones from Israel, officials said Friday. The messages warned against allowing "Hezbollah to create a state within a state" in Lebanon and promised "harsh retaliation" for any future Hezbollah assault," the officials said.
"Now you are happy, but later you are going to be shocked," said one message, signed "the State of Israel."
Officials said the messages appeared to be an attempt to incite Lebanese against the fundamentalist Hezbollah, one day after a UN- brokered prisoner swap, which was loudly celebrated by Hezbollah and their followers in Lebanon, but drew anger and sorrow in Israel.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah handed the bodies of two dead Israeli soldiers to the Jewish state in return for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of around 200 Hezbollah and Arab militants.
Telecommunication Minister Jubran Bassil sent a letter of complaint about the voicemail to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Claudio Graziano.
Bassil, a member of Hezbollah, objected to what he called Israel's "flagrant aggression against Lebanese sovereignty" and UN Security Council resolution 1701.
The resolution ended the July 12, 2006 war on Lebanon, which was launched by Israel against Hezbollah, after the movement's militants snatched the two soldiers whose bodies were returned Wednesday.
UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouzian acknowledged receiving a copy of the letter but said "the force had no details at this time."
The Israeli government, which has not yet commented on the allegations, used similar psychological methods during the 2006 war on Lebanon.
