Hezbollah ready for response against Israel

Threat comes as tensions soar between Lebanon, Israel after an alleged Israeli attack on southern Beirut last Sunday.

BEIRUT - Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday his Lebanese movement's response to a recent alleged Israeli drone attack on the group's Beirut stronghold had been "decided".

"The need for a response is decided," he said during a televised speech ahead of a Shiite religious holiday, adding it was about "establishing the rules of engagement and... the logic of protection for the country".

Israel "must pay a price", he said.

The threat comes as tensions soar between Lebanon and Israel after an alleged Israeli attack on southern Beirut last Sunday.

The pre-dawn attack involved two drones -- one exploded and caused damage to a Hezbollah-run media centre and another crashed without detonating due to technical failure.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the incident.

Sunday's attack in Lebanon came just hours after Israel launched strikes in neighbouring Syria to prevent what it said was an impending Iranian drone attack on the Jewish state.

Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed in those strikes.

In his Saturday speech, Nasrallah vowed to retaliate "at all costs" and target Israeli drones, which often operate in Lebanese airspace.

"The response will be open... from Lebanon," he said, "in the Shebaa Farms or anywhere on the border".

In 2015 and 2016, Hezbollah targeted Israeli military vehicles in the disputed Shebaa Farms area along the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire line in revenge for Israeli strikes on its fighters in Syria.

In a rare incident on Wednesday, the Lebanese army opened fire on Israeli drones that had violated Lebanon's southern airspace, forcing the aircraft to return back across the border.

On Saturday, Israel fired flares over several areas close to the border, one of which landed in a base run by an Indian battalion of UN peacekeepers, according to the UN and the Lebanese army.

Netanyahu had on Tuesday warned Nasrallah to "be careful" with his words and actions.

Directing his words at Nasrallah, Netanyahu said in a speech "he knows very well that the state of Israel knows how to defend itself well, and to repay its enemies".

On Thursday, the Israeli army accused Iran of collaborating with Hezbollah to assemble precision-guided missiles that could cause "massive" human casualties in Israel.

Nasrallah responded on Saturday, saying: "In Lebanon, we have what we need in terms of precision missiles for any confrontation great or small... we don't have precision missile factories".

Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars, the last of which was a 33-day conflict in 2006, which killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.