JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday the country’s army is ready for all scenarios regarding the tensions with the Hezbollah forces on Lebanon’s southern border.
Speaking at a security meeting held at the Israeli Army Northern Command, Netanyahu said what happened yesterday is the result of the efforts by Iran and its “Lebanese proxies” — Hezbollah — to deepen their military presence in the region.
“Israeli army is ready for all possible scenarios. We will continue to take measures to prevent Iran from being militarily deployed in our region. We will do everything to defend ourselves,” Netanyahu stressed.
“We prevented an infiltration attempt into our lands”, he said, referring to the armed clash which had taken place on the Israeli-Lebanese border on Monday.
In a statement, Israeli army said on Monday that its troops “thwarted an infiltration attempt by Hezbollah” in the Jabal Ros area.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli media also reported the group had tried to infiltrate the Shebaa Farms, located at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, to carry out an operation.
A Hezbollah statement, however, denied this claim, saying: “There was no clash or shooting on our part in the events that took place today on the southern border in Lebanon, but rather it was only one party which was the fearful, anxious and tense enemy”.
However, Hezbollah said its response to the killing of one of its people in the “Israeli aggression” around the Damascus International Airport a few days ago “is definitely coming.”
The military tension came as the Israeli army continues to be on alert along the country’s northern frontier in anticipation of retaliatory attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah organization.
Hezbollah has vowed to respond to the killing of one of its members in an airstrike, believed to be launched by Israel, on a site near the Syrian capital Damascus.
In the past few days, the Israeli army announced it would deploy military reinforcements to the border with Lebanon.
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara
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