Lebanese Prime Minister calls for "caution" amid heightened border tensions with Israel

On Tuesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Hasan Diab called for "caution in the coming days" after a rise in tension with Israel, which he accused of "violating Lebanon's sovereignty in a dangerous military escalation" after an incident at the border between the two countries on Monday. 

"I call for caution in the coming days because I fear that things will get worse in light of severe tension at the border," Diab said on Twitter after a Supreme Defence Council meeting and a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

He also said that "Israel violated the sovereignty of Lebanon (...) with a dangerous military escalation", after an exchange of fire took place yesterday on the border between the two countries because of an alleged infiltration by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which denied it shortly afterwards. 

For this reason, he called on the United Nations to "condemn the Israeli aggression and impose the implementation of UN resolution 1701", adopted by the Security Council in 2006 to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which in 34 days left at least 1,200 dead on the Lebanese side, mostly civilians, and 156 on the Israeli side, mostly military. 

Diab also accused Israel of "trying to change the tasks" of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south and of trying to "reduce the number of troops" of this UN mission in the country. 

For his part, the Lebanese president condemned on Twitter "the attack by the Israeli enemy" and said it "poses a threat to stability in southern Lebanon". 

Israel opened fire on what it said was a "command of the Hezbollah terrorist group" that was trying to enter the country and that it responded with fire, which triggered the security alert in the border area, according to the Israeli version. 

The Lebanese Shiite group had threatened to avenge the death of one of its members in an attack in Damascus last week, attributed to Israel. 

However, the Lebanese Shiite militia denied that there had been a "confrontation or shooting", accused the Israeli authorities of unilateral action and warned that revenge "is definitely on the way". 

Israel holds Hezbollah and Lebanon responsible for any action coming from the neighboring country, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that "any attack will be met with great force". 

Israeli forces intermittently attack targets of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria, where they support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, in an attempt to prevent them from establishing a permanent military presence in the region. 

One of the attacks attributed to Israel in Damascus last week killed five fighters, one of them from the Lebanese Shiite militia.