Netanyahu warns Hezbollah, Lebanon to 'be careful'

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned Lebanon, Hezbollah's chief and the head of Iran's elite Quds Force to "be careful" with their words and actions.

Addressing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Netanyahu told a conference that "he knows very well that the state of Israel knows how to defend itself well, and to repay its enemies".

"I want to say to him and the Lebanese state, which is hosting this organisation that aims to destroy us, and I say the same to Qassem Soleimani: Be careful about your words, and even more cautious about your actions."

Netanyahu said Nasrallah should "calm down" after Nasrallah said the Iranian-backed movement would respond to the crash of two drones in a Beirut suburb.

"I heard what Nasrallah said. I suggest to Nasrallah to calm down. He knows well that Israel knows how to defend itself and to pay back its enemies," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu spoke after a series of similar incidents in recent days attributed to the Zionist state, that have raised tensions between Israel, Lebanon, Iran and Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

Nasrallah has accused Israel of being behind the drone attack, calling it the first such "hostile action" since a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon's President Michel Aoun called it a "declaration of war".

Asked if Israel attacked any ground targets in Lebanon in recent days, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Israeli Army Radio:

"We of course did not respond to the accusations levelled at us. On their face, these things seem weird and intriguing. The media have reported this fact - that these are allegations that have no basis."

Lebanon's Higher Defence Council, which includes the president, prime minister and army commander, convened on Tuesday and said the Lebanese have "the right to defend themselves against any attack".

Hours before the Beirut incident, Israel announced it had carried out a strike in neighbouring Syria to thwart what it said was a plan by an Iranian force to attack its territory with drones.

On Monday, a pro-Syrian Palestinian group accused Israel of carrying out a drone attack on one of its positions in Lebanon.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria targeting what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

Iran and Hezbollah, along with Russia, have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's civil war, but Netanyahu has pledged to stop Israel's arch-enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria.

Unwritten understanding

Lebanese sources said on Tuesday that Hezbollah is preparing a "calculated strike" against Israel in response to the strikes but it aims to avoid a new war.

A reaction "is being arranged in a way which wouldn't lead to a war" that Hezbollah does not want, one of the sources said.

"The direction now is for a calculated strike, but how matters develop, that's another thing."

One of the drones exploded near the ground, causing some damage to Hezbollah's media centre in the southern suburbs of the capital which it dominates.

Precise details about where the drones were fired from have yet to emerge. Hezbollah has said the two drones were rigged with explosives after its experts took apart the first drone.

Israel deems the heavily armed Shia Hezbollah movement the biggest threat across its border. In their 2006 war nearly 1,200 Lebanese people - mostly civilians - died.

158 people died in Israel. The Israeli casualties were mostly soldiers.

Regional sources say that Israel and Hezbollah have formed an unwritten understanding that while they can exchange fire within Syria, any attacks within Lebanon or Israel are to be avoided lest they escalate to war.

Israel has grown alarmed by the rising influence of its foe Iran during the war in neighboring Syria, where Tehran and Hezbollah provide military help to Damascus.

Tehran also has wide sway in Iraq, where a grouping of Iraq's mostly Shia Muslim paramilitary groups, many of which are backed by Iran, have blamed recent blasts at their weapons depots and bases on the United States and Israel.

Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that patrols the border with Israel, said the situation in the area remains quiet.

"UNIFIL continues to work with the parties to ensure that there are no misunderstandings or incidents that may endanger the cessation of hostilities," Tenenti told Lebanon's state news agency NNA, referring to a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an end to the fighting in 2006.

In public comments during a visit on Sunday to Israel's north, where he met army commanders, Netanyahu appeared to hold out the prospect of targeting Lebanon directly for attack if Hezbollah struck Israel.

"Any country that allows its territory to be used for aggression against Israel will face the consequences, and I repeat: the country will face the consequences," he said.