After clashes along the border between Israel, Lebanon and Syria, Hassan Nasrallah says his group does "not want a war," but claims the right to respond to "aggression" from Israel "wherever" it wished.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - "We do not want a war but we are not afraid of it," said Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hizbullah. Hence, his Shi'a-dominated group has the right to respond to "aggression" from Israel "wherever" it wished.

Nasrallah spoke at a ceremony commemorating the victims of an airstrike on 18 January, which led to an exchange of mortar fire between Hizbullah and Israel on Wednesday that caused further casualties.

As a result, the Israeli Defence Forces beefed up their presence along the border. Local residents were however allowed to go home.

In Wednesday's violence, Hizbullah fired rockets at Israeli military vehicles, killing two soldiers and wounding seven others. Israeli forces responded by shelling southern Lebanon.

Corporal Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, 36, a soldier with UNIFIL, was killed. The Malaga-born Spanish peacekeeper was on his second mission with the UN peacekeeping force.

The Spanish ambassador to the United Nations, Roman Oyarzun Marchesi, blamed Israel for his death and called for a thorough investigation into the killing.

The attack on Wednesday came after six Hizbullah fighters and an Iranian general were killed in an air strike in Syria on 18 January, which was widely blamed on Israel.

For Nasrallah, not wanting a war does not mean being afraid of it. "We must distinguish between the two and the Israelis must also understand this very well," he said.

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• israel
• syria
• hizbullah
• hassan
• nasrallah
• border
• clashes