An Israeli soldier stands near the border with Lebanon, Dec. 5, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun / File.

In the first major flare-up since the IDF’s Operation Northern Shield began, the Israeli military fired on three suspected Hezbollah terrorists who approached the border with Lebanon on Saturday.

The operation on the northern border has been ongoing since last Tuesday. It is intended to destroy cross-border attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah that Israel believes were intended to facilitate a full-scale attack on the country’s Galilee region.

According to Israel’s Channel 2, the three suspected terrorists approached the border using the stormy weekend weather as cover. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office said IDF soldiers “shot toward the figures according to orders to open fire. The three escaped. The work continues as planned.”

Hebrew news site Walla quoted the official Lebanese news service as saying, “The soldiers of the Zionist enemy fired in the air after they were surprised by a routine patrol by the Lebanese army on Lebanese territory, because of the heavy fog.”

In addition, Walla cited a report that Israel used the US and France to issue a back-channel warning to Lebanon, saying that the Jewish state would attack Hezbollah on Lebanese territory if the group does not cease building precision-guided missiles with Iranian support.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Saturday regarding the ongoing operation. The Prime Minister’s Office stated, “Netanyahu updated President Putin on the details of Operation Northern Shield and Israel’s intention to continue to thwart the tunnel threat. The two of them agreed that military delegations from both countries will meet soon.”