Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu being interviewed by Charlie Rose, October 2, 2013. Photo: Screenshots.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday that his country holds the Lebanese government responsible for rocket attacks emanating from within Lebanon’s border.

His comments, made at the Israeli government’s weekly cabinet meeting, came just hours after two rockets fired from Lebanon struck the vicinity of Israel’s northern town of Kiryat Shmona. The Israel Defense Forces responded with artillery fire.

“We hold the Lebanese government responsible for firing that is carried out from within its territory,” the Prime Minister said. “What is happening in Lebanon is that Hezbollah is stationing thousands of missiles and rockets in apartments, in the heart of the civilian population, and is thus perpetrating two war crimes simultaneously. It is organizing the firing at civilians, just as it did today, and it is hiding behind civilians as human shields.”

Explaining why Israel holds Lebanon accountable Netanyahu said that Lebanon was doing nothing to prevent the arming of terror group Hezbollah which is well established on Israel’s northern border.

“This is a double war crime that that is being perpetrated under the aegis of the Lebanese government and army, which are not lifting a finger to prevent this arming and these crimes. We hold the Lebanese government responsible for this development,” he said.

The Prime Minister also tied the attacks to Iran, pointing out that Hezbollah’s principal benefactor is the Islamic Republic.

“We also know that Iran, of course, is behind this arming by Hezbollah. It is the same Iran which is continuing to assist the Syrian government in slaughtering civilians and which is continuing to arm terrorist organizations that are perpetrating acts of terrorism in many countries. It is also the same Iran that is currently developing centrifuges that are capable of enriching uranium six times faster than its regular centrifuges,” Netanyahu said.

Adding criticism for the recent deal reached between Iran and world powers over the country’s nuclear weapons program Netanyahu pointed out that, “All of this is being done now, before the agreement is written.”

“Even before the agreement is signed I see that the Iranian economy is recovering somewhat.”

“We are monitoring these developments and are pointing them out to the world. We continue to see preventing the nuclearization of Iran as our main goal vis-à-vis the national security of the State of Israel, as well as the security of the region and the entire world,” he concluded.