Israeli Official Predicts War with Hezbollah in Near Future

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.