Press unconvinced by border truce

Papers in the Middle East predict further violence in southern Lebanon despite Sunday's announcement of a UN-brokered ceasefire between Israeli forces and militants based on the Lebanese side of the border.

One Israeli commentator says the border clashes marked a defeat for the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Arab papers line up to accuse Israel of seeking to engineer instability in Lebanon and across the whole of the region.

ALEX FISHMAN IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARONOT

At 1700 Hezbollah stopped firing. At 1715 the chief of staff instructed the Israeli armed forces to stop firing. That is in fact the bottom line of yesterday's day of battle in southern Lebanon: Hezbollah was beaten and blinked first. This makes it certain that the next round is on the way. The Iranians will not let their protege cave in - not against the elements of power in Lebanon and not against Israel.

EYAL ZISSER IN ISRAEL'S MA'ARIV

The conflagration along the northern border was not surprising... What we have here is a tedious recurrence of events at the northern border once every few months... Yet none of the sides is ready to leave the right of final word to the other side. The result is a controlled, careful conflagration, within the context of which both sides take care not to hit one another too hard, too painfully.

NABIL ABU-MUNSIF IN LEBANON'S AL-NAHAR

It is very dangerous that Lebanese soil and space are once again facing all kinds of regional violations, as if we have returned to the scene that existed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This was done in front of the Lebanese youth, triggering an alarm of the kind of threats that may jeopardise their future.

IZZ-AL-DIN AL-DARWISH IN SYRIA'S TISHRIN

Those who say that Syria, and not Israel, is the enemy of Lebanon did not stand up the day before yesterday in front of cameras and release their usual statements, so that they wouldn't be obliged to talk about Lebanon's real enemy, Israel, which has penetrated the Lebanese arena once again.

JORDAN'S AL-DUSTUR

All sides meet in southern Lebanon to clash in one way or another, similar to what happened the day before yesterday, in a very dangerous game... Israel wants Lebanon to be a meeting point that can push everybody into a civil war, so that chaos spreads across the region as a whole.

SAUDI ARABIA'S AL-RIYADH

Lebanon is violated by many sides... Lebanon and Israel live in a very special reality and because of that all options will remain open, especially if tensions resurface and several limited wars erupt.

SAUDI ARABIA'S AL-WATAN

Israel does not miss any chances to add more tension to an already inflamed Lebanon... The [Israeli] attacks come at a very hard time for Lebanon, as its leaders try to overcome the difficult circumstances by adopting an ongoing dialogue.

ABD-AL-WAHHAB BADRAKHAN IN PAN-ARAB AL-HAYAT

Israel has not been absent from the Lebanese arena but its attacks, aggression and instigation had stopped for a while, maybe in deference to the international attempts to handle the crisis in Lebanon. However, the last few days have seen the return of Israel through the attack which targeted an Islamic Jihad official in the northern settlements.

PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI

Fighting will not benefit the Jewish state but will lead to its instability, especially at this time, when the occupied territories are witnessing a chaotic situation and the people are at boiling point.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.