Hezbollah reduced the number of its military operations against Israel on Sunday and Monday as tensions continued in wake of the strike that killed 12 people in the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights over the weekend.
Hezbollah has strongly denied its involvement in the attack. Israel, meanwhile, continued to make threats that it will strike Lebanon in retaliation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Majdal Shams on Monday, vowing a strong response.
Offering his condolences to the families of the victims, he said: “These are our children. The state of Israel will not let this pass; it cannot.”
Some residents staged protests against his visit.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hezbollah “will pay a price” for the attack. “We will let actions, not words, do the talking,” he added.
A military spokesman said the response will be “clear and forceful. Hezbollah will be targeted.”
“We insist on driving it away from our borders. This is our ultimate goal,” he added.
Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the intensity of the operations dropped noticeably over the past two days. Hezbollah declared on Sunday that it had carried out no more than two operations and only three on Monday.
The figures are much lower than what the border regions had grown accustomed to over the past two weeks where the party had staged an average of eight operations a day, they added.
The drop in attacks did not lead to a halt in Israeli operations. Israeli drones flew heavily at low and medium altitudes, reaching the regions of Nabatiyeh, Jezzine, Sidon and al-Zahrani, they noted.
Israel killed two Hezbollah members on Monday.
A drone strike targeted a car and motorcycle in the towns of Shakra and Mays al-Jabal. Two people were killed and four wounded, including a 12-year-old boy.
Hezbollah acknowledged in a statement the death of two members in the attack.
In the evening, a drone strike targeted a car in the town of Kounin near Bint Jbeil.
Israeli jets also struck Houla and Kfar Hamam and artillery hit the towns of Aitaroun, Mays al-Jabal, Kfar Kila and Deir Mimas.
Hezbollah later announced that it fired dozens of Katyusha rockets at the al-Baghdadi position in response to the Shakra attack.
It also fired rockets against Israeli soldiers in the Raheb area and a surveillance system that was recently set up in the Malikiya area.
