United Nations, August 28 (RHC)-- The United Nations says it has “taken note” of a warning by Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun that recent Israeli aerial transgressions against the country amount to “declaration of war,” urging both sides to exercise restraint.

Aoun made the remarks earlier this week, a day after the incidents, the first of which saw an Israeli drone crashing on the roof of a building housing the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah’s media center and causing severe damage to the facility.  Israeli drones attacked Lebanon’s Bakka region near the border with Syria subsequently.

The Lebanese head of state said the incursion “allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty.”  UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body calls for "maximum restraint" by all parties “both in action and rhetoric."  He added: "It is imperative for all to avoid an escalation and abide by relevant Security Council resolutions," he added.  

The war killed around 1,200 Lebanese people, and afflicted considerable damage to the country’s infrastructure. The Israeli regime had staged another major military aggression against the country in 2000.

Hezbollah played a pivotal role in defending Lebanon during both the wars.  Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah issued a stern caution to Tel Aviv after the recent airspace violations, saying the group would act, from then on, to down transgressing Israeli drones.

By increasing the drone attacks, Nasrallah said, the regime was trying to “turn Lebanon back to what it was before 2006,” referring to the run-up to the 33-Day War of that year.

“We in the Islamic resistance won’t allow such events to take place whatever be the price,” the Hezbollah chief said, and added, “The time when Israeli planes would come and bomb a certain place in Lebanon and this entity (Israel) remained secure and in place…this time has ended.”