© IDF Spokesperson's UnitPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz hold discussions after IDF thwarts Hezbollah terror cell infiltration along border with Lebanon on July 27, 2020
Netanyahu warned that Israel will hold Hezbollah and Lebanon responsible for any attacks from Lebanon into Israel.
Any attack from Hezbollah will have a strong response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hours after the
IDF thwarted an attack on northern Israel by the Lebanese terrorist organization.
"
Hezbollah has to know it's playing with fire," Netanyahu warned in a statement to the press. "Any attack will be met with great force. [Hezbollah leader Hasan] Nasrallah is greatly mistaken about Israel's determination to defend itself, and Lebanon has paid a heavy price for this mistake."
Netanyahu warned that Israel will hold Hezbollah and Lebanon responsible for any attacks from Lebanon into Israel. The prime minister also said Hezbollah is doing Iran's bidding and harming Lebanon.
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz commended IDF soldiers for preventing "a serious event that could have cost human lives."
"Israel is determined as ever to protect the lives of its soldiers and its civilians...Whoever dares test the force of the IDF is putting himself and the state he comes from in danger," Gantz warned.
Attacks on Israel will bring a "powerful, sharp and painful" response, the defense minister stated.
In a possible reference to Iran, Gantz said "Israel, security forces and the IDF will continue to act anywhere necessary, near or far as it may be."
Comment: Hezbollah had
denied Israel's claim that it breached Israel's borders
In a statement the Hezbollah movement has officially denied earlier allegations it made an unsuccessful attempt to "infiltrate" Israel from Lebanon that resulted in border clashes with the IDF, the Tasnim News Agency reported. The group also dismissed reports of them sustaining casualties as a result of Israeli air raids, calling them "absolutely not true".
The exchange of fire was followed by the crash of an Israeli military drone on Lebanese territory on 26 July, which was reportedly caused by a malfunction. The following day, armed clashes happened along the border between the two countries, with Israel reportedly shelling the settlement of Kfarchouba in the country's south. On the same day, the IDF claimed that it thwarted an "infiltration attempt by a Hezbollah terror squad" without sustaining casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in turn, warned Lebanon against "playing with fire" on the border.
Lebanon in turn highlighted the fact that
Israel violates Lebanese borders and airspace on a nearly daily basis:
"Yesterday, Israel violated the sovereignty of Lebanon one more time and breached the UN Resolution 1701, by carrying out dangerous military escalation", Diad said, addressing to the country's Supreme Defence Council.
The prime minister also warned that the relations between the two countries may "deteriorate in light of the severe tensions on our borders.
"The government will file a complaint with the Security Council tomorrow to hold [Israel] and the international community accountable for what happened yesterday, as there is a clear [act of] aggression", Hitti said in a statement to media following the cabinet session. "We adhere to the UN Resolution 1701 [issued by the UNSC in 2006] and Lebanon's right to protect itself".
The announcement is taking place after the incident occurred on Monday on the Israeli-Lebanese border in the vicinity of the disputed lands of Shebaa farms, with explosions and exchanges of gunfire being heard.
Comment: Hezbollah had denied Israel's claim that it breached Israel's borders Lebanon in turn highlighted the fact that Israel violates Lebanese borders and airspace on a nearly daily basis: