JERUSALEM: Hezbollah's escalating attacks on Israel risk "dragging Lebanon into a war", Israel's military said Sunday, after renewed cross-border exchanges of fire that have raised fears of a wider conflict.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is allied with Hamas, which touched off the latest violence with a bloody October 7 rampage in Israel that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has retaliated with relentless strikes on the Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, also mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It has also exchanged fire with Hezbollah across its northern border, with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Jonathan Conricus accusing the group of a dangerous escalation.
"Hezbollah... is dragging Lebanon into a war that it will gain nothing from, but stands to lose a lot," Conricus said.
"Hezbollah is 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? That's a question that the Lebanese authorities need to ask themselves and answer."
Weekend exchanges of fire have killed four Hezbollah fighters and a member of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in Lebanon, while three Israeli troops were injured, one seriously, in Hezbollah anti-tank fire, and two Thai farm workers were also wounded.
On Sunday morning, the army said its forces "identified a terrorist cell attempting to launch anti-tank missiles toward the Avivim area along the border with Lebanon."
"IDF soldiers struck the cell before it was able to carry out the attack," a statement from the military said.
Since October 7, exchanges of fire across the border have killed at least four people in Israel -- three soldiers and one civilian.
In southern Lebanon, at least 27 people have been killed, according to an AFP tally. Most have been combatants but at least four civilians, including a Reuters journalist, have also been killed.
Israel has ordered dozens of northern communities to evacuate, and several thousand Lebanese have also fled border regions for the southern city of Tyre.
On Sunday, the Israeli defence ministry said they were evacuating 14 additional communities from the area.
Hezbollah number two Naim Qassem has warned the group could step up its involvement in the conflict.
"Let's be clear, as events unfold, if something comes up that calls for greater intervention by us, we will do so," he said.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 that left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 dead in Israel, mostly soldiers.