The Lebanese army said on Monday it had agreed with Syria on ways to confront "enemy" threats, hours after Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas traded fire in the latest sign of rising tensions with the Jewish state.

Lebanon's Hizbollah attacked Israeli posts in a disputed border area on Monday, drawing at least five Israeli air raids and heavy shelling on the edges of Lebanese villages.

Regional tensions have flared since Israel struck what it said was a training camp for Palestinian militants in Syria on October 5 in the deepest attack on its neighbor in 30 years.

The Lebanese army said in a statement that it and Syria's armed forces had looked into ways to "confront challenges and enemy threats to which both Syria and Lebanon are exposed."

"A unified formula was reached on this issue," it said, giving no details on exactly how Lebanon and Syria would respond to such "threats."

Syrian Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hasan Turkmani, who earlier this month put the Syrian armed forces on alert against any new Israeli attack, held meetings on Monday with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and top military officials.

Syria, which has broad political and military sway over its smaller neighbor, hinted on Sunday it would retaliate over any Israeli military strike against it by attacking Jewish settlements on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Syrian-backed Hizbollah helped end Israel's 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000, but has since attacked Israeli troops in the Shebaa Farms, near the border between Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights.

Monday's attack by Hizbollah on Israeli posts in the Shebaa Farms was the first since August.

In a statement issued in New York, Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he "strongly deplores" the attacks on both sides.

He urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and respect the U.N.-demarcated border separating northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

"Today's events underscore yet again the acute need for the government of Lebanon to exert full control over the use of force from its territory," Roed-Larsen said.

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