Hezbollah has not been committing violence, Lebanese ambassador tells BBC

Rami Mortada claims group has only attacked ‘military targets’, while blaming conflict on Israeli ‘hotheads’

The Lebanese ambassador to the UK has claimed that “Hezbollah has not been committing violence”.
“I condemn any act of violence, but Hezbollah has not been committing violence,” Rami Mortada told the BBC’s Today programme.
“They [Hezbollah] were firing exclusively at military targets,” he added, referring to the group’s rocket attacks on northern Israel that began on October 8.
He went on to say that Lebanon had been trying to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis in the region, but the “hotheads” in Israel “chose a different path”.
Asked if he would describe Hezbollah as “hotheads”, Mr Mortada said: “Hezbollah… they have [their] modus operandi, it’s a Lebanese matter. Now they are in a self-defence posture.
“Israel has chosen an escalatory path in a very volatile and dangerous region. It’s opened Pandora’s box.”
He went on to repeat his calls for a diplomatic solution, adding that “we need to stop this carnage in Gaza, stop this carnage in Lebanon”.
Richard Kemp, head of an Israeli military charity and a former British Army commander, said: “I’m afraid the Lebanese ambassador is very mistaken.”
“Hezbollah has been firing at villages and towns in northern Israel and further into Israel, into Tel Aviv,” he added.
Referring to the deaths of 12 Druze children killed in a rocket strike on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights in July, Mr Kemp said: “All of them were civilians.”
The White House and Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack on Majdal Shams, although Hezbollah denied responsibility.
Rami Mortada is a graduate of the American University of Beirut and began his diplomatic career in the early 1990s.
He has been Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK since 2017 and was formerly Lebanon’s ambassador to the EU and Lebanon’s chargé d’affaires in Syria.
Mr Mortada has previously accused Israel of “criminal” war tactics and said its incursion into Lebanon would lead to a “doomsday” scenario.
The Telegraph contacted Mr Mortada and the Lebanese embassy in London for comment.