(Beirut) The Lebanese Prime Minister on Tuesday condemned a "dangerous military escalation" the day after Israeli artillery fire on a border area, the Hebrew state denouncing an attempt to infiltrate "terrorists" on its territory.
France Media Agency
"Israel has once again violated the sovereignty of Lebanon [...] during a dangerous military escalation," Hassan Diab lamented on Twitter.
This is the Lebanese government's first official reaction to Monday's bombing of the Israeli-Lebanese border.
"I call for caution in the days to come as I fear things will get worse due to high tension at the border," Diab added.
The Israeli army said Monday that a group of three to five people, armed with rifles, had penetrated a few meters beyond the Blue Line separating Israel from Lebanon and that "the security forces have opened fire ".
The "terrorists" fled to Lebanon after an exchange of fire with Israeli forces and artillery fire on Lebanon "for defensive purposes," the IDF added.
Israel has blamed the pro-Iranian armed movement Hezbollah, its very influential enemy across the border, which has called the accusations of infiltration "totally false".
"Everything that is happening at the moment is the result of the efforts of Iran and its Lebanese intermediaries to anchor themselves militarily in our region", declared Tuesday the Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu visiting the headquarters command of the army in northern Israel.
"We will do whatever is necessary to defend ourselves and I suggest Hezbollah to take this fact into account", he added, after having estimated the day before that the Shiite movement "is playing with fire ".
"Change the rules"
After several conflicts, Israel and Lebanon remain technically in a state of war.
UNIFIL - the UN peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon - called for "the utmost restraint", saying it has opened an investigation.
Mr. Diab accused Israel of seeking to "change the rules" established between the two countries since the last war by 2006 between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, and of pressure to modify UNIFIL's mandate which expires at the end of August.
"There is an attempt to put pressure on Lebanon by threatening to reduce the number of UNIFIL forces if the mandate of the mission is not changed," Diab said.
"Lebanon refuses a modification of the prerogatives of UNIFIL," he added.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah rejected in May a US request to strengthen the powers of UNIFIL, including data collection and surveillance activities, saying it is a request Israeli.
At the beginning of May, the American ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, affirmed that UNIFIL was "prevented from fulfilling its mandate" and that Hezbollah "was able to arm itself and to expand its operations ".
For his part, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the incident at the border threatened stability in southern Lebanon a few weeks before the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate.
Monday's fever spurt comes after strikes in Syria blamed on Israel that killed five pro fighters on 20 -Iran south of Damascus, including a Hezbollah fighter.
The last major clash between Hezbollah and Israel had left more than 160 dead on the Lebanese side in one month, mainly civilians, and 160 on the Israeli side, mostly military.