IDF soldiers on Friday night identified a number of Lebanese suspects digging in the ground and cutting the border fence between Lebanon and Israel.
IDF soldiers, who were deployed in several locations around Metula, identified the suspects after they arrived at the fence and began cutting it.
The soldiers responded using suspect arrest protocol, which included firing towards the suspects' feet after which the suspects escaped into Lebanon.
Initial investigations of the incident and searches of the area showed that the suspects acted in an organized fashion, leaving objects suspected to be explosives near the fence. It also showed that the suspects' behavior proved their intention to infiltrate Israeli territory and conduct a terror attack in the Metula area.
The attempted terror attack followed Friday afternoon's violent disruptions of order near the Israel-Lebanon border.
"The IDF takes very seriously the attempted terror attack," an IDF statement said. "IDF forces are ready in the area and prepared to act with determination in response to any attempt to harm the State of Israel's sovereignty. The State of Lebanon bears sole responsibility for what occurs in its territory and emanates from it, and it will bear the consequences of any attempt to harm Israeli citizens."