PM: Israel could attack Lebanon as a retaliation

Tin Sokhavuth

The crowd in Beirut pushing to enter a gate near the United States Embassy. Photo: The New York Times

Prime Minister Hun Sen, on Tuesday, said that Cambodian peacekeepers in Lebanon could be victim from any eventual attack taken by Israel as a retaliation against anti-Israel sentiment in Palestine as well as in Lebanon.

"Sometimes, Israel could attack Lebanon in some area as a retaliation," said Prime Minister Hun Sen in his speech on Tuesday in a groundbreaking ceremony of a building in the future school of intelligence service in Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov district.

According to The New York Times, a protest against President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel took place on Sunday in Lebanon's capital Beirut near the US Embassy. Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannons into the crowds.

The newspaper added that the prime minister and the president of Lebanon, both condemned President Trump's decision as the root cause of dangers in the region.

"In Lebanon, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun both condemned Mr. Trump’s decision. Mr. Hariri said the United States move foreshadowed dangers for the region," wrote The New York Times.

Jerusalem is a city in the Middle East, situated on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea.

Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital - Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions in Jerusalem, while Palestine foresees the city as its seat of power. However, since long time ago, the international community has not recognized the city as the capital of Israel nor Palestine's capital.

Today, Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

On the other hand, Jerusalem is the land where three major religions were born - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As the result, if people from one of the three religions declare that the city is the land of their god, people from two other religions could also say that the city is the land of their god too. The fact is people from each religion have the same right to say that Jerusalem is the land of their god.

According to source online, during its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times by people from the three religions.