The Israel-Lebanon border. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon urged all sides to “exercise utmost restraint” in the wake of the Hezbollah terror group’s attack on two Israeli army vehicles at the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday.

“The need of the time is to maintain security vigil and to exercise utmost restraint against any provocation,” U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Commander Major-General Luciano Portolano said, noting that UNIFIL has stepped up patrols in the area.

“General calm has been restored in the area and the parties have reassured me of their continued commitment to maintain the cessation of hostilities in accordance with [UN] resolution 1701,” he added.

Hezbollah took responsibility for Monday’s attack, saying it was carried out by a terror cell named after Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese arch-terrorist who was killed in a purported Israeli airstrike in Damascus in late December.

Israel fired on dozens of targets in southern Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah attack.