Oleg Burunov – October 30, 2020
Tensions between Israel and Lebanon escalated in late August when the Jewish state’s military launched airstrikes against Hezbollah observation posts, in response to the Lebanon-based Shia militant group firing two shots from across the border aimed at Israeli troops.
Newsweek has cited representatives of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah as saying that they are completely ready for a potential full-fledged military conflict.
Brigadier General Ido Mizrachi, chief engineering officer of the IDF, told the US magazine that while the Israeli military sees Hezbollah “as the main enemy for now”, the IDF is doing its best to prevent this conflict from becoming “a genuine war”.
“But we have to be ready to operate against Hezbollah, and especially if we need to do that geographically, physically within the area of South Lebanon. This will be a very complicated situation for us, but that’s what we need to be ready for”, Mizrachi pointed out.
He predicted that the conflict between Israel and Hezlollah would show no signs of ceasing in the future, claiming that “this challenge” would become “deeper, stronger, and more complicated”.
“Some things change. They know that we developed a high level of technology to locate and destroy their assets. I’m not sure they’re going to put up a white flag and peace agreement. I mean, I hope so, but it’s not going to happen, I think, in my generation”, the general added.
A Hezbollah spokesperson, in turn, told Newsweek that the militant group is “always fully prepared regardless of the [Israeli] drills”, in an apparent nod to the IDF’s recent large-scale military exercises codenamed Lethal Arrow, which simulated a war with Hezbollah.