Netanyahu warns Hezbollah against new war front

Hezbollah will make "the mistake of its life" if it starts a war with Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as tensions rose on the Israel-Lebanon border.

His remarks came during a visit as the Israeli leader visited troops near Israel's northern border with Lebanon where increasing artillery exchanges have heightened fears of a new front opening as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza.

Israel's defence ministry on Sunday ordered the evacuation of another 14 communities near the border, adding to dozens that have already been told to evacuate.

Should Hezbollah try and get involved, it would be "the mistake of its life," Netanyahu said.

"We will strike it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the significance for it and the state of Lebanon will be devastating."

Hezbollah is an ally of the Islamist Hamas movement which sparked the war with its October 7 rampage that killed at least 1,400 people in Israel, according to authorities.

Israel has retaliated with relentless strikes on Hamas in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 4,650 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.

In parallel, it has exchanged fire with Hezbollah across its northern border.

Since October 7, the cross-border exchanges have left at least 36 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally -- mostly combatants but also at least four civilians, including a Reuters journalist.

Another four people have been killed in Israel, including three soldiers and one civilian. Israel has evacuated dozens of its northern communities while several thousand Lebanese have fled border regions for the southern city of Tyre.

- 'A very dangerous game' -

On Sunday, the army said its forces "identified a terrorist cell attempting to launch anti-tank missiles toward the Avivim" border area saying they had "struck the cell before it was able to carry out the attack".

And an anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli tank in the Har Dov area -- Israel's term for the disputed Shebaa Farms district -- without causing casualties or damage, with the tank returning fire, it said.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said Israeli aircraft overflew south Lebanon on Sunday and Israel had bombed various sites along the border.

The tit-for-tat attacks have so far been relatively contained, but analysts have warned that Hezbollah could scale up its activity if Israel launches a ground invasion of Gaza.

Hezbollah's number two Naim Qassem on Saturday said the group could step up its engagement.

But Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus warned that Hezbollah was playing "a very, very dangerous game".

"They're escalating the situation. We see more and more attacks every day," he said.

"Is the Lebanese state really willing to jeopardise what is left of Lebanese prosperity and Lebanese sovereignty for the sake of terrorists in Gaza?"

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Sunday that diplomatic efforts were under way to "stop Israeli attacks on Lebanon" and prevent the Gaza conflict from spreading, saying Beirut's allies were making "every effort to return the situation to normal".

However, Lebanon was developing an emergency response plan "as a precaution", he added.

Iran-backed Hezbollah fought a war with Israel in 2006 that left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 dead in Israel, mostly soldiers.

burs/hmw