Hezbollah has clashed with UNIFIL troops several times over the years and has restricted their movements across southern Lebanon, a move which grossly undermines its mandate.

BRUSSELS—In a statement, the European Union said that reports of a drone incident south of Beirut led to new tensions in a region already affected by too much instability.

‘’It is the responsibility of all parties in the region to exercise maximum restraint, to comply with international law and to avoid any further escalation of a potentially dangerous and delicate situation, including by avoiding inflammatory rhetoric,’’ an EU spokesperson said.

‘’The European Union expects all parties to fully abide by the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, in particular UNSCR 1701 and 1559,’’ the statement added.

The European Union said it ‘’continues to support Lebanon’s stability, security and sovereignty and is in close coordination with our international partners to this end.’’ ‘’Ultimately, there can be no unilateral or military solution to the interrelated problems of the Middle East,’’ the statement concluded.

The deputy leader of Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah on Tuesday night warned that his movement would deliver a “surprise” response in the coming days to a series of alleged Israeli raids.

Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have skyrocketed since Saturday night, when two of the group’s members were killed in an Israeli strike in Syria, and drones crashed in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, in an incident also blamed on Israel.

Israel took credit for the Syria raid, but has not commented on the other strikes. The model of drone used in the Beirut attack has raised considerable questions about their provenance, with analysts suggesting they could be Iranian.

In a televised speech Sunday, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened: “I say to the Israeli army along the border, from tonight be ready and wait for us. Do not rest, do not be reassured, and do not bet for a single moment that Hezbollah will allow… aggression of this kind.”

Israel’s military has been gearing up for a possible reprisal attack from Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group that is part of the Lebanese government, deploying extra troops to the northern border and limiting some movement along the frontier.

On Monday, an Israeli military official warned that any Israeli response would be disproportionate, and Israel sent a message to Lebanon via the US that it would not limit its response to Hezbollah but would view all of Lebanon as a legitimate target, according to reports by Israeli news outlets.

Also Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon, Nasrallah and the head of Iran’s Quds Force to “be careful” with their words and actions.

Netanyahu told a conference in Jerusalem that Nasrallah “knows very well that the State of Israel knows how to defend itself well, and to repay its enemies.”

Israel and the United States are pushing for the United Nations to give its peacekeepers in Lebanon more authority so they can better counter Hezbollah.

Established in 1978 to man a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon, the operational mandate afforded to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is renewed by the Security Council annually. The council – the UN’s most powerful body – is set to vote on the issue next Thursday.

UNIFIL is currently 10,500-soldiers strong and has an annual budget of $490 million.

UNIFIL’s authority has been eroded to the point of near-irrelevance by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which dominates southern Lebanon – the area bordering Israel.

The Shiite organization has been designated as a terrorist group by several western countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Argentina, Paraguay, and Israel, as well as Arab League member Bahrain. Some countries, such as Australia, France, and Germany, only classify Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah has clashed with UNIFIL troops several times over the years and has restricted their movements across southern Lebanon, a move which grossly undermines its mandate.

The group wields considerable power in Lebanon and dominates its parliament, where it holds 70 of 128 seats.  It also counts Lebanese President Michel Aoun among its staunch supporters.

Earlier this year, the UN peacekeeping force on the Israel-Lebanon border said that two of four  attack tunnels dig by Hezbollah crossed the demarcation line between the two countries in violation of UN resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 war.

UNIFIL had confirmed the existence of four tunnels found by Israel, two of which crossed the Blue Line border demarcation between the two countries.

Speculation abounds as to whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order earlier this week to brief rival Benny Gantz on current security issues is a sign that Israel is preparing for a major conflict on one or more fronts. Gants is the former Israel Defense Forces Chief  and serves as leader of the Blue and White Party.