TEL AVIV, August 1. /TASS/. Israel is determined to respond to any aggression, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"Israel is on high alert for any scenario in terms of both defense and offense. We will inflict very heavy damage in response to any aggression against us from any direction," Netanyahu stated, according to his office.

The Israeli premier said in a televised address on July 31 that the Jewish state was taking note of threats coming from all directions after a strike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut, and was ready to give a tough response to any aggression.

On the evening of July 30, the Israeli army said that a strike had been carried out on Beirut. The military confirmed later that the precision operation had killed Fuad Shukr, a key commander of the Hezbollah movement’s military wing. Israel claims that Shukr, the right-hand man of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah, bears responsibility for the July 27 strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which killed 12 children.