Hezbollah to Tel Aviv: No More Border Violence?

TEL AVIV, January 29 (Sputnik) — Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has informed Israel through the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that it is not interested in further escalation of hostilities following an exchange of rocket strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Thursday.

"There are channels of communication between us [Israel] and Lebanon through UNIFIL and this message was indeed received from Lebanon," the minister confirmed in an interview with Israeli radio station Galei Zahal.

The news comes a day after Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a missile attack on an Israeli military convoy near Shebaa Farms in the Israeli-occupied Lebanese territories on the Golan Heights, which killed two soldiers.

Shortly after the incident, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah exchanged fire, with Israeli artillery launching at least 25 shells at southern Lebanon. The fighting resulted in the death of a UN peacekeeper.

The situation on Israel's northern borders intensified on January 18, when an Israeli helicopter reportedly fired missiles at a group of militants near the Syrian town of Quneitra, on the border of Golan Heights. The attack reportedly claimed the lives of six Hezbollah members, including the son of the movement's late top military commander and a general from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite political party and militant group established in the 1985 to fight against Israel's occupation of Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and certain Western countries.