Israel has vowed to Lebanon and Syria to respond to any attack from their lands, and has kept its forces on alert at the borders with the two countries, fearing a possible response from the Lebanese Hezbollah to the killing of one of its members in an Israeli bombing in Syria.
The Israeli Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, said at the end of his meeting yesterday, Saturday, with the top leaders of the security and military services that Lebanon and Syria will bear responsibility for any action against Israel launched from their territories.
Gantz instructed his forces to remain on high alert along the borders with Lebanon and the Golan front.
For his part, the IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, accompanied by the Military Intelligence Division and the commander of the northern region, learned of the army's preparations for a possible response from Hezbollah to the killing of one of its members in an Israeli raid that targeted last Monday sites near Damascus International Airport.
Kochavi asked the Northern Command of the army to reduce the movement of forces on the border so that they do not turn into Hezbollah targets.
Hezbollah had mourned Ali Kamel Mohsen, a prominent party leader who hails from southern Lebanon, and Mohsen was killed in an Israeli raid near Damascus airport, which Western intelligence sources said hit a major ammunition depot backed by Iran.
This is the first member of the party to announce his death in an Israeli raid since Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah warned last year that any further death of the party in Syria would be met.
According to Lebanese media sources, the United Nations conveyed a message to Hezbollah through the United Nations saying that it did not intend to kill Ali Kamel Mohsen when it targeted the supposed ammunition depot near Damascus airport.
Israeli alert
On the ground, the Israeli army kept its forces on high alert along the border with Lebanon and on the ceasefire line in the occupied Syrian Golan.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported yesterday that the Israeli army closed sections of the old North Street adjacent to the border with Lebanon, and deployed military checkpoints in locations in the Galilee (northern Palestine).
The army also reduced the movements of its military vehicles, and prohibited Israeli farmers from entering their farms near the security fence.
The Israeli army had said on Friday that its helicopters had bombed locations of the Syrian regime army in response to mortar shells fired at the occupied Golan, and had caused material damage to the Israeli side.
In the context, the Lebanese army announced yesterday evening Saturday that Israeli planes marched on Friday and Saturday, 29 in violation of the Lebanese airspace, indicating that all the violations took place in the southern regions.
He added that the Lebanese army leadership is following the issue of violations in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).