Israeli Official Predicts War with Hezbollah in Near Future

Smoke rises from the disputed Shebaa Farms area in southern Lebanon in July 2020. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from the disputed Shebaa Farms area in southern Lebanon in July 2020. (Reuters)
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Israeli Official Predicts War with Hezbollah in Near Future

Smoke rises from the disputed Shebaa Farms area in southern Lebanon in July 2020. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from the disputed Shebaa Farms area in southern Lebanon in July 2020. (Reuters)

A senior official in the Israeli army Northern Command expected a conflict to erupt between the Hezbollah party in Lebanon and his country in the near future.

In remarks to Israel Hayom on Thursday, he said that “Hezbollah was very likely to try and perpetuate a cross-border attack in the near term, and that Israelis should consider the possibility that this path was inevitable.”

He vowed that the military will “retaliate forcefully to such Hezbollah provocations.”

“The northern border could see a resumption of full-fledged hostilities,” the official said.

“I am sure that we will see some incident that will eclipse the Shebaa Farms event, which could result in fatalities. There is a high probability of this materializing, and this requires all of us to prepare accordingly; the chances of a sudden escalation is increasing steadily.”

In July 2020, Hezbollah carried out an operation against the Israeli army in the disputed Shebaa Farms area at the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Dozens of Israeli shells hit the area along the frontier. Fires burned and smoke rose from the area, but no casualties were reported by Israel or Hezbollah.

The operation was made in response to an Israeli attack in Syria in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed a week earlier.

The Shebaa Farms area is occupied by Israel and claimed by Lebanon. The United Nations regards the territory as part of Syrian land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.



Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
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Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, his spokesperson said, prompting strong condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian group Hamas.

The firebrand politician was visiting the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir had quit the cabinet in January in protest at the ceasefire agreement in the Palestinian territory.

Since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir has made several trips to the Al-Aqsa compound, each time triggering international outcry.

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned Wednesday’s visit as a “storming” and “an unacceptable provocation.”

Hamas called it a “provocative and dangerous escalation,” saying the visit was “part of the ongoing genocide against our Palestinian people.”

“We call on our Palestinian people and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defense of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it said in a statement.

The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson told AFP the minister “went there because the site was opened (for non-Muslims) after 13 days,” during which access was reserved for Muslims for the festival of Eid al-Fitr and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In recent years, growing numbers of Jewish ultranationalists have defied the rules, including Ben-Gvir, who publicly prayed there in 2023 and 2024.

The Israeli government has said repeatedly that it intends to uphold the status quo at the compound but Palestinian fears about its future have made it a flashpoint for violence.