There is growing fear of when, not if, a war between Israel and Hezbollah will break out.
This comes as fierce clashes between the two sides continue to escalate. Last night, the militant group almost downed an IDF fighter jet over Lebanon’s territory with anti-aircraft missiles. The near-miss, which was captured on camera, prompted the Israeli jet to retreat from the area in southern Lebanon.
After the missile launch, Hezbollah said: “Our combatants from air defense units used surface-to-air guided missiles to obstruct enemy planes and force them to leave the airspace of Lebanon.”
The day before, Hezbollah had escalated tensions further by using drones to target Israeli troops at several military bases in northern Israel, resulting in casualties.
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah also released a drone video that showed air defence facilities, planes and fuel storage units at Israel’s Ramat David airbase, 50km (30 miles) deep into Israeli territory.
The footage included labels pointing out military infrastructure, including the short-range Iron Dome air defence system, which is designed to destroy rockets.
It was the third recent video released by Hezbollah which demonstrates its surveillance of Israel. The first video showed the Israeli port city of Haifa and the second surveilled the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, Israeli Air Force Commander Tomer Bar has confirmed that preparations for a possible war against Hezbollah in Lebanon had been completed, warning there would be “surprises” and a “knockout punch” against the militants.
He told a meeting onn Thursday: “There is full responsibility on the Israeli Air Force to implement all the operational plans. And there will be a knockout punch as lethal as possible, against an enemy we are familiar with, and there will be surprises.
“I’ll tell you that throughout the entire war we have maintained and are maintaining an ability that, if a war breaks out in the north and with Iran, we will rise to the occasion, we are prepared.”
The two sides have engaged in fierce cross-border clashes since last October, with Hezbollah seemingly determined to attack Israel until the war in Gaza is over.
Nearly 350 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Lebanon, while more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists, have also lost their lives in Israeli strikes. In Israel, 10 civilians and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced, heaping pressure on Israeli leaders to resolve the crisis.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaer, the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, warned that a miscalculation along the border could “engulf the entire region” in war, sparking a devastating Middle East conflict.
