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Press TV has conducted an interview with George Labaki, professor at Notre Dame University from Beirut, to discuss the continuous Israeli acts of aggression against Lebanon and its alliance with Saudi Arabia.

- George Labaki, Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister has not only filed a complaint to the UN, he has sent similar letters to foreign ministers of nations belonging to the 15-member Security Council as well as the Arab League, as well as the European Union foreign policy chief, secretary general of the organization of the Islamic Cooperation, chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani; will any action be taken against Israel that will change the Israeli regime’s behavior?

- I am afraid that the past history tells us that Israel has never complied with the Security Council resolutions. Concerning the Lebanese situation, Israel has a long history of breaching and violating the Lebanese sovereignty.

Things changed after the Israelis lost the war of 2006, the aggression they had initiated against Lebanon and which ended in their complete defeat and withdrawal from the Lebanese territory.

This is a new situation where Israelis are more careful when they are conducting their aggressions against Lebanese people and Lebanese state and national sovereignty, but I am afraid such violations are doomed to continue as long as the Security Council is unable to move as long as the United States and some European states are eager to use the veto power in order to block any resolutions condemning Israel.

- George Labaki, Geoffrey Alderman just posed a question to you, can you answer that?

- Yes, it was considered as a personal act stated by an official communiqué of the Lebanese army and I think that things should be given another scope or a broader explanation. It was very clear that this happens all the time between the states, between countries. It is a very limited action as officially stated by the Lebanese army.

- Yes sure, George Labaki go ahead.

- Hezbollah is a Lebanese political party that is a member of the Lebanese government, officially; also that government of which Hezbollah is a member was able to get the confidence of the Lebanese parliament and in the official statement in the work program of the government it has stated very clearly that triangle between people, resistance and army. So we cannot talk about duplicity or duplication of power in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is member of the government that gained confidence in the Lebanese parliament that is elected by people, of course.

Even Israel had acknowledged in official statements that it was not the work of Hezbollah. Here, I think I want to go a little bit backward, the past Israeli attacks against Lebanon in south Lebanon since 1967 - at the beginning of course against the Palestinian armed presence but later on against Lebanese territory - has led in fact to the creation of Resistance Movement.

So I think that this is in a way, it was a response to the continuous cycle of aggression and bombardment of Lebanon and basically of south Lebanon. So could people stay inactive year after year if they see their country and territory attacked by any other outside or other foreign power?

- George Labaki, I need to ask you this because this has come out... go ahead!

- If I may here interfere. I think that the Syrian conflict has spilled over not only to Lebanon, [but] to Jordan and to Sinai Peninsula and I think we are witnessing a big, dramatic development of the situation and I am afraid if the Syrian conflict is not brought quickly to an end, it will spill over to all the states, to most of the Middle Eastern countries and also to the Arab states surrounding Israel.

…Israel is interested of course and has an interest to see the internal destruction of Syria, the weakening of its army, but also we have to acknowledge that the rise of hundreds of fundamentalist groups whose agenda is against the Assad regime but who could quickly turn against anybody including Israel and who are able to conduct an unconventional war, I mean terrorist attacks that finally would threaten the whole Middle East.

For this reason I think that it is very urgent that the international community attempts to put an end to that Syrian internal conflict because I am afraid that the spillover could be very dramatic.

Here I want to point out that Lebanon is hosting now more than one million refugees. Of course we have to welcome them. They are fleeing their country but we cannot ignore the security risks also that that also entails also in terms of the whole Middle East’s stability, regional stability.

- George Labaki, our guest there says yes the alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia is out in the open.

Now there is a deduction made based on the recent terrorist attacks that have happened inside Lebanon - the most prominent one being the one that targeted the Iranian embassy, the twin bomb blast that claimed the life of an Iranian diplomat. If these two are in an alliance, is there not then by default an association that could be made with Israel also being behind this?

We have a deduction here made that terrorist attacks in Lebanon were carried out to serve the interest of the Israeli regime.

Do you see it that way? Do you agree with that?

- Yes, let me first say that nobody is against strengthening of the Lebanese army. So hopefully this will be respected. Past promises of aid from most of the Persian Gulf countries were not or were very partially respected.

Now concerning the open alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia, logically and objectively and rationally, when two sides are allied against a common target, it is normal that they cooperate and conduct covert or open operations against their foes or enemies.

So I think that this is a clear logical analysis.