Israel threatens to 'respond with force' after Hezbollah fires at IDF in 'ceasefire violation'

Israel’s prime minister says he will “respond with force” after Hezbollah fired towards an Israeli military post in disputed territory in Lebanon.

Two projectiles fell in open areas and no injuries were reported.

Israel said they had been launched toward Mount Dov, a disputed Israeli-held territory known as Shebaa Farms in Lebanon, where the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel meet.

Hezbollah said it fired projectiles as a “defensive and warning response” after what it called “repeated violations” of the ceasefire deal by Israel. The attack was Hezbollah’s first since the ceasefire was enacted last week.

It said complaints to mediators tasked with monitoring the ceasefire “were futile in stopping these violations”.

Lebanon has also accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days, including for the alleged demolition of homes in border villages, the persistent overflight of Israeli reconnaissance drones, and airstrikes that have caused casualties.

The incident was “a serious violation” of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Israel will respond to it with force,” he said.

“We are determined to continue enforcing the ceasefire and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah, whether minor or severe.”

Escalation as a form of deterrence could have uncontrollable consequences

Israel has struck Hezbollah positions a number of times since the ceasefire came into force at 4am last Thursday – only today, two people were killed by an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.

Now Hezbollah has fired two mortars into Israel close to the border in response.

No one was hurt and, compared to the hundreds of rockets and drones the group was previously firing into Israel, it is reasonably insignificant, except it does underscore just how fragile the truce is.

Both sides accuse the other of violating the ceasefire but neither seems eager to collapse it just yet. The United States, charged with monitoring the truce, says it is holding.

The IDF briefed from the off that they were prepared for some small skirmishes as both sides manage their withdrawals and Lebanese civilians have flooded south to return home.

That prediction appears to be playing out, but as long as calm heads remain there should be no reason for these incidences to threaten the ceasefire.

Benjamin Netanyahu has described Hezbollah’s mortar attack as a “serious violation” and has vowed to respond “with force” – that feels like an overreaction although could be designed to make Hezbollah reconsider any further attacks.

With things as tense as they are though, even a calibrated escalation as a form of deterrence, could have uncontrollable consequences.

Meanwhile, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz promised “a harsh response”.

“What was, will no longer be,” he said.

It comes as the US defence department said the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was mostly holding.

Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said: “Broadly speaking, it is our assessment that despite some of these incidents that we are seeing, the ceasefire is holding,”

The US and French-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday. It called for a 60-day halt in fighting, aiming to end more than a year of exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.

Since then, Israel has carried out several strikes in Lebanon, most recently on Monday, when a drone strike killed a man on a motorcycle in southern Lebanon and another hit a Lebanese army bulldozer in the northeastern town of Hermel, wounding a soldier.

The US and France are tasked with monitoring compliance with the accord. Israel says that it reserves the right under the truce to respond to perceived ceasefire violations.

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