This archive report was first published on 1 September 2019.
September 1, 2019, marked a significant escalation in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite movement backed by Iran.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for launching anti-tank missiles from Lebanon, targeting Israeli military vehicles and killing and wounding those inside. However, Israel's military had not commented on the incident at the time.
Israel's army later released a statement, confirming that 'a number of anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon towards an (Israeli military) base and military vehicles.' The statement also revealed that 'a number of hits have been confirmed,' and that Israel was 'responding with fire towards the sources of fire and targets in southern Lebanon.'
Hezbollah's fighters claimed to have destroyed a military vehicle on the road to the Avivim barracks in northern Israel, killing and wounding those inside. The Lebanese state-run NNA news agency reported Israeli fire in the area of Maroun al-Ras, near the border.
Following the initial reports of fire from Lebanon, an Israeli military spokesman advised Israelis living within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of the Lebanese border to remain at home and prepare shelters.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been rising in the last week, with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah stating that the group's response to an alleged Israeli drone attack on the group's Beirut stronghold had been 'decided.'
The pre-dawn August 25 attack involved two drones, one of which exploded and caused damage to a Hezbollah-run media centre, while the other crashed without detonating due to technical failure. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the incident.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the civil war began there in 2011, targeting what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah sites. Iran and Hezbollah, along with Russia, have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's civil war.
However, a drone attack by Israel inside Lebanon would mark a departure from previous conflicts, with Hezbollah's chief Hassan Nasrallah describing it as the first such 'hostile action' since a 2006 war between them.
On Thursday, Israel accused Iran of collaborating with Hezbollah to build precision-guided missiles in Lebanon. According to the UK's Times newspaper, the drones in the August 25 incident fell near installations manufacturing a fuel used by precision missiles.
Sunday's escalation comes just ahead of Israel's September 17 election, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen as wanting to avoid a major conflict before then due to the political risk involved. However, he has also warned Lebanon and Hezbollah to 'be careful.'
Addressing Nasrallah, Netanyahu told a conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday that 'he knows very well that the state of Israel knows how to defend itself well, and to repay its enemies.' He suggested that Nasrallah 'calm down.'
