The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah denied any involvement in fighting Monday on the Lebanon-Israel border after the Jewish state said it had repelled an infiltration attempt by "terrorists".

Hezbollah "confirms that it did not take part in any clash and did not open fire in today's events until now", it said in a statement.

"All that the enemy's media is claiming about thwarting an infiltration operation from Lebanon into occupied Palestine... is completely false."

It said no Hezbollah fighters were killed or wounded.

The Israeli army said a group of three to five men armed with rifles crossed the UN-demarcated Blue Line border in the disputed Mount Dov area, claimed by Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

It said the "terrorists" had fled back to Lebanon after an exchange of gunfire and that Israeli forces had fired artillery into Lebanon "for defensive purposes".

An AFP correspondent reported Israeli bombardment of the Kfarchouba hills in the Shebaa Farms sector near the Israeli position of Roueysaat al-Alam, with plumes of smoke rising above the area.

The bombardment hit a civilian home in the village of Hibariyyeh close to the border, according to Lebanese media.

The latest spike in tensions follows a July 20 Israeli missile attack on positions of Syrian regime forces and their allies south of Damascus that left five dead.

Hezbollah, whose fighters back the Damascus regime in war-torn Syria, said one of its own was among the dead.

"Our response to the killing of... Ali Kamil Mohsen in the Zionist aggression near Damascus airport is definitely coming," the Shiite movement said in its statement.

"We will not remain quiet in the face of this day's bombardments... and the hitting of a civilian's house," it added.

UN mission urges 'maximum restraint' after Lebanon-Israel border clashes
Beirut (AFP) July 27, 2020 - United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL called for "maximum restraint" after clashes Monday on the border between Lebanon and Israel, adding the firing had stopped.

An AFP correspondent reported Israeli artillery bombardment on the hills of Kfarchouba in the Shebaa Farms area near the Israeli position of Roueysaat al-Alam, and reported plumes of smoke rising above the area.

Lebanon and Israel are still technically at war and UNIFIL usually patrols the border between the two.

"Major General (Stefano) Del Col has been in contact with both parties to assess the situation and decrease tension while urging maximum restraint," UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said.

"The firing has now stopped," he added.

Shiite movement Hezbollah, which has a large presence in the area, issued no immediate statement on Monday's incident.

But its Al-Manar television channel said calm had returned to the area.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is a key political player in Lebanon, despite it being blacklisted as a "terrorist" group by the United States. Its fighters support the Damascus regime in the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Monday's border exchange comes a week after an Israeli missile attack hit positions of Syrian regime forces and their allies south of Damascus on July 20, killing five. Hezbollah said one of its own died in the raid.

Hezbollah number two Naim Qasim said in a televised interview on Sunday that "if the Israelis decide to launch a war, we will confront it and we will respond."

"What happened in Syria is an aggression, which led to the death of Ali Kamil Mohsen," he said of last weeks' strikes.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the country's civil war in 2011.

Israel and Hezbollah last fought a 33-day war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

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