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An Israeli soldier was wounded in the arm after a car opened fire from across the border with Lebanon.

According to the IDF, a Lebanese car passing the border fence opened fire on Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade who were patrolling the area near Metulla yesterday . Troops returned fire, before the vehicle returned towards them firing shots again, leading to another exchange of fire.

An IDF statement said: “IDF forces identified the vehicle that conducted the shooting earlier today. Fire was exchanged between the vehicle and IDF. Hits confirmed.”

The United Nations’ peacekeeping force in the area, UNIFIL, said that it had received a report from the IDF and urged all sides to “exercise utmost restraint”.

The injured soldier was taken to a hospital in the northern city of Safed. Local farmers were instructed not to work yesterday in their fields near the border.

Lebanon’s army denied that the incident had taken place via the official state  media outlet Wataniya. It said: “There is no truth to what some Israeli media outlets reported in terms of a car opening fire on an occupation army soldier, wounding him.”

However, Yediot Ahronot says that later in the day, Lebanese media reported that the vehicle from which shots had been fired belongs to a resident of the border village of al-Adaisa. Yediot Ahronot also reports that Israeli security officials do not believe that the attack was the work of Hezbollah, but rather a local group whose motives remain unclear.

Haaretz quotes an unnamed Lebanese source, who said that Hezbollah is not interested in an escalation and put yesterday’s exchange down to “a sensitive period due to recent political developments”.

Since the month-long Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, a ceasefire has largely held firm. However, border tensions have persisted and Hezbollah is thought to have significantly increased its rocket arsenal during the last ten years.