Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Lebanon was responsible for any attack on Israel conducted from within its territory, as Israeli flights over Lebanon increased amid mounting tensions with Hezbollah after a deadly Israeli airstrike in Syria earlier this week.
Netanyahu took to Twitter to declare that the Lebanese state was itself “responsible for any attact against Israel,” and that Israel would “not allow Iran to establish a military base” on its northern border.
This comes less than a day after the Lebanese Army declared that they had noted a record total of 29 violations of Lebanese air space in the last 48 hours, indicating that they were following up on the issue with UNIFIL, the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
Israeli jets and UAV drones were seen Sunday performing intensive low altitude maneuvers over much of southern Lebanon – including Nabatieh, Marjayoun, Hasbaya, Jezzine and Iqlim al-Tuffah – as well as over Byblos, Keserwan and the Bekaa Valley.
Although such flights have become commonplace in recent months, the recorded increase in recent days comes on the back of rising tensions with Hezbollah after one of the group’s fighters was killed during Israeli strikes south of Damascus on July 20.
Israel reportedly relayed messages to Hezbollah following the incident stating it didn’t intend to kill one of its fighters, while also warning against possible retaliation – although government officials have repeatedly denied this in Israeli media.
Since then, Israel has rapidly reinforced its military presence along the Lebanese border, as well as restricted some routes to military vehicles, in response to a potential retaliation by Hezbollah.
Israel was also seen Sunday deploying large artillery forces along its side of the technical fence.
In September of last year, Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles into northern Israel, prompting Israel to return artillery fire against three Lebanese border villages in the most recent escalation of tensions to date. Hezbollah attack was in retaliation to an Israeli drone strike on a target in Beirut's souther suburbs.
It was the first exchange of fire across the UN-demarcated Blue Line since Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006 and fought a monthlong war with Hezbollah.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
