The deputy leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, has dismissed the prospect of an escalation of violence between the Iran-backed party and Israel despite increased tensions in the last week.
"The atmosphere does not indicate a war ... It's unlikely, the atmosphere of war in the next few months," Qassem said in an interview on Sunday.
Tensions rose along Israel's frontier with Syria and Lebanon after Hezbollah said a fighter was killed in an apparent Israeli strike on the edge of Damascus last week.
After two Hezbollah members were killed in Damascus in August 2019, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed the group would respond if Israel killed any more of its fighters inside Syria.
The Israeli military has since boosted its forces on its northern front.
An Israeli drone crashed inside Lebanon during operational activity along the border, an Israeli military spokeswoman said on Sunday.
Analysts say Hezbollah and Israel want to avoid an all-out conflict at a time of regional tensions and keep rules of engagement drawn up since the party fought a one-month war with Israel in 2006.
"There is no change of rules of engagement and the deterrent equation with Israel exists and we are not planning to change it," Qassem said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the Lebanese state was responsible for any attack on Israel from within its territory.
