Jerusalem:

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that Israel would fight Hezbollah “with all its might” if the Lebanese armed group continued its “aggression” across the border.

“We will not allow the Hezbollah militia to destabilise the border and the region. If Hezbollah continues its aggression, Israel will fight it, with all its might,” Gallant said in a message addressed to the people of Lebanon, according to a statement from his office.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.

Fears of all-out war have mounted after Israel killed Hezbollah’s top military commander Fuad Shukr in an air strike in a Beirut suburb last week.

Reminding the people of Lebanon of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Gallant warned Lebanon to “learn the lesson of the past so as not to fall into a dangerous scenario in August 2024”.

The devastating 34-day war in July-August 2006 killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

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