Lebanese PM urges caution amid 'dangerous military escalation' along border with Israel

Hassan Diab said Israel breached his country's sovereignty

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  A bomb expert from the Lebanese army inspects an unexploded ordnance inside a home in Hebarieh village, after reported Israeli bombardment of the Shebaa Farms area. AFP

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  A bomb expert from the Lebanese army inspects an unexploded ordnance inside a home in Hebarieh village, after reported Israeli bombardment of the Shebaa Farms area. AFP

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  Smoke billows above the edges of southern Lebanon's Kfarchouba village. AFP

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  Smoke billows above the edges of southern Lebanon's Kfarchouba village. AFP

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  Smoke billows above the edges of southern Lebanon's Kfarchouba village after reported Israeli bombardment of Shebaa Farms. AFP

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  A convoy of the United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) patrols in the vicinity of the Kfar Kila village in southern Lebanon. AFP

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  An Israeli soldier stands guard next to an Iron Dome anti-missile system. Reuters

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  Smoke billows above the hills of Kfarchouba in the Shebaa Farms area. AFP

Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab has said Israel violated his country's sovereignty with a "dangerous military escalation" along the Israeli-Lebanese frontier on Monday and called for caution amid heightened border tension.

Witnesses reported seeing dozens of Israeli shells hitting the disputed Shebaa Farms area along the frontier. Fires burnt and smoke rose from the area, but no casualties were reported by Israel or Hezbollah.

Occupied by Israel, the Shebaa Farms is claimed by Lebanon. The UN regards it as part of Syrian territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

“The enemy is searching to amend the tasks of UNIFIL and the rules of engagement with us, so I call for caution in the coming days, because I fear that things will slip for the worse in light of the severe tension on our borders with occupied Palestine,” Mr Diab wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's forces thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to cross the frontier on Monday, something that the Iran-backed group denied.

"Hezbollah should know it is playing with fire," Mr Netanyahu said in a televised address from Israel's defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. He said any attack from Lebanese territory would draw a powerful response.

Israeli forces have been on alert along the northern border in anticipation of Hezbollah retaliation for the killing of one of its members a week ago in an alleged Israeli attack on the edge of the Syrian capital Damascus.

"A Hezbollah squad infiltrated Israeli territory," Mr Netanyahu said. Saying that Lebanon had "paid a heavy price" for Hezbollah attacks on Israel in the past, he cautioned the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, "not to repeat this mistake".

An Israeli military spokesman said between three and five Hezbollah militants had taken part in the operation and had crossed back into Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which last fought a war with Israel in 2006, denied that its forces tried to cross the frontier and said the Shebaa Farms incident was "one-sided".

"There were no clashes or opening of fire from our side in today's events," Hezbollah said. "Our response to the martyrdom of Ali Kamel [Mohsen] ... will surely come," it said, referring to the fighter who died in Syria.