Lebanon’s Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters through a giant screen during a rally marking the third anniversary of the assassination of military commander Imad Moughniyeh and commemorating the annual Hizbullah Martyrs’ Leader Day in Beirut’s suburbs February 16, 2011. Nasrallah warned Israel on Wednesday that his group would avenge the death of slain commander Moughniyeh, who was killed in a bombing in Damascus three years ago. REUTERS/ Sharif Karim

BEIRUT — Lebanese President Michel Sleiman warned Israel on Thursday that another invasion of his country would no longer be “a walk in the park,” as a war of words between the neighboring states escalates.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak “knows full well that entering Lebanon is no longer a walk in the park,” Sleiman said in a statement.

“The defense minister’s threat to send his forces into Lebanon again shows premeditated intentions of aggression. The Lebanese people, army and resistance are ready to respond to any such aggression.”

Sleiman’s comments came two days after Barak warned that his army may have to re-enter Lebanon to ensure that Hizbullah “remembers” the 2006 war, sparked by a cross-border raid in which the group captured two Israeli soldiers.

“Even though it’s quiet and deterrence exists — Hizbullah remembers the heavy beating they suffered from us in 2006 — but it is not forever, and you may be called to enter again,” Barak told troops during a tour of the border region.

A month-long war in 2006 between Hizbullah and Israel killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Tensions between Hizbullah and its arch foe Israel have mounted in recent days, with Hizbullah’s leader warning that his fighters were ready to “take Galilee” in Israel’s north in the next round of conflict.

On Wednesday, Hassan Nasrallah also vowed that the assassination of top operative Imad Mughnieh in a February 2008 Damascus car bombing that his party has blamed on Israel would not go unpunished.

“To the Zionist generals, I say: Anywhere you go in the world, at any time, watch out, for the blood of Imad Mughnieh will not go to waste,” Nasrallah said via video link during a rally to mark his party’s martyrs’ day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shot back at the Shi’a leader hours later, saying Israel would defend itself against its enemies.

“Let there be no doubt, Israel has the ability to defend itself. We have a strong army and a determined people,” Netanyahu said.

“We seek peace but the army is ready to defend Israel against its enemies.”

On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also warned Tehran not to test it, charging that Tehran was preparing to send warships into the Mediterranean.

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said on Thursday it had received no request to allow Iranian warships passage to the Mediterranean.