BEIRUT: A source close to President Michel Sleiman denied Thursday a media report saying the Lebanese leader would skip Argentina during his trip to South America as a result of pressure on Buenos Aires by an Israeli lobby.

“The report is not true. The president will carry out his visit, including Argentina, as scheduled,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Al-Liwaa newspaper, quoting a source, reported that Sleiman would tour Peru and Uruguay during his trip to Latin America but would skip Argentina.

The source said the decision to cancel the trip to Argentina came after Israeli lobby put pressure on Buenos Aires over the bombing of a Jewish Cultural Center in the capital allegedly by Hezbollah.

In the attack on July 18, 1994, a van loaded with explosives exploded outside the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association in the Argentine capital.

Besides the fatalities, more than 300 people were injured in the country's worst terrorist attack. The six-story building that housed the association was leveled.

Argentina prosecutors allege that the attack was planned and financed in Iran and carried out by a Hezbollah cell.