By Wassim Seifeddine and Edward Haddad

BEIRUT (AA): Hizbullah Leader, Hassan Nasrallah, warned in a televised address that it will retaliate against drone attacks on Lebanon by Israel on Sunday.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah responding to the drone attacks, said in a televised address:  “Hezbollah will not allow such an aggression,” he said in a televised address on Sunday. “The time when Israeli aircraft come and bombard parts of Lebanon is over.”

“From now on, we will down any Israeli drones in Lebanon’s skies,” he warned

“The time when Israeli aircraft come and bombard parts of Lebanon is over,” he said.

“I say to the Israeli army along the border, from tonight be ready and wait for us,” he said. “What happened yesterday will not pass.”

Professor of Political Science at Lebanese University, Amal Saad, in tweets said Israel has crossed the red line by attacking Lebanon.

“Most significant change will be that Hizbullah will no longer be constrained by domestic front. In a departure from past practice, it will shoot down any Israeli drones over Lebanon. It will be impervious to any internal pressure by rivals who oppose this preventive strategy

“It won’t stop at preventive measures against future drone strikes, but will retaliate for today’s attack by destabilizing Israel’s Northern border and beyond. This could entail drone strikes it will launch on Israel proper, that could target military, economic or other sites

“It will no longer confine response to attacks on Hizbullah fighters in Syria to Shebaa, but will attack Israeli soldiers across Lebanon’s border, or well beyond it. This could mean ambushes of border patrols or attacks on military bases and installations inside Israel proper.”

Lebanese group Hizbullah [Hezbollah] has denied shooting down two Israeli drones, which crashed in the southern suburb of capital Beirut earlier Sunday.

“The first drone fell down, while the other exploded, causing severe damage to Hezbollah’s media office in the southern suburb,” Hezbollah spokesman Mohamed Afifi told the official Lebanese news agency.

He said the drone that exploded was a “booby-trapped”.

“The first drone that fell down is now in the hands of Hezbollah, which is analyzing the background of its operation and the tasks it tried to carry out,” he said.

The Lebanese army, for its part, confirmed that one Israeli drone fell and the another exploded in Beirut’s southern suburb.

“The army arrived immediately and cordoned off the area where the two drones fell,” a military statement said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, meanwhile, described the Israeli drone crash as aggression on Lebanon’s sovereignty.

In a statement, Hariri said the new development constituted “a threat to regional stability and an attempt to push the situation towards further tension”.

President Michel Aoun also described the incident as a “flagrant aggression”, saying Beirut will take “appropriate measures” in response.

In a statement, Aoun said the incident was an “additional indication about Israel’s hostile intentions and its attacks on stability and peace in Lebanon and the region”.

“Lebanon, which strongly condemns this aggression, will take the appropriate measures after consulting with the relevant authorities,” he said.

There was no comment from Israel on the incident, which came hours after Israel announced it carried out airstrikes in Syria against what it said positions of an Iran-aligned group in the war-torn country.

In 2006, Israel launched war against Hezbollah during which at least 1,200 people, mostly Lebanese civilians, were killed.

Additional report by The Muslim News

[Photo: Hizbullah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah by Aniton Nossik/Creative Commons]