JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Lebanese group Hezbollah would make the "mistake of its life" if it enters a war with Tel Aviv.

Israel is waging two wars "to stop the threat in the north and to wipe Hamas off the face of the earth in the south," Netanyahu told soldiers while visiting an army base in the north of the country, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

Arguing that Israel is fighting for its existence, he said the government did not know whether Hezbollah intended to enter into war.

He said that if Hezbollah goes to war with Tel Aviv, the group would "long for" the July 2006 conflict between Lebanon and Israel.

Hezbollah "will be making the mistake of its life," he asserted, adding that Israel would strike it with "a power it cannot imagine."

Warning that this would be "devastating" for Lebanon, he said Israel was prepared for any scenario.

Tensions have flared along the Israeli-Lebanese border amid an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

The escalation came amid Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, into Israeli border positions and settlements.

The border clashes have been the deadliest since Hezbollah and Israel fought a full-scale war in 2006, when the Lebanese group struck major Israeli cities with rockets, causing significant damage.

More than 1,000 Lebanese were killed in the war, while much of southern Lebanon -- a Hezbollahstronghold -- was devastated by Israeli attacks.

*Writing by Merve Berker in Ankara