Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday that any future conflict between the Shiite group and Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, as tensions rise between the arch foes.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, also said in a speech televised live that the group was dismantling all its military positions along Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, and this area would now be patrolled just by the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran and Damascus, has been fighting for years in Syria's conflict against an array of rebels and Sunni Islamist fighters.