The Israeli army is currently preparing for the possibility of the eruption of “a very violent war” with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel's Channel 2 reported.
In the report, Colonel Dan Goldfus of the Israeli army said that they will have to use "considerable force" against Hezbollah and “to act more decisively, more drastically” to win any such conflict with the Shiite group.
Noting that Hezbollah has an estimated 100,000 rockets, Goldfus said that a conflict against the Shiite Lebanese group would be "a whole different story” from the recently-concluded onslaught against the Gaza Strip.
Most of these rockets are deployed in southern Lebanon – near to the border with Israel – but there are also long-range missiles located in Beirut, which are capable of carrying large warheads of up to one ton, he added.
These latter rockets, he said, are equipped with precision guidance systems, covering all of Israel, which would make it difficult for Israel's Iron Dome rocket defense system to deal with them successfully as it happened in the recent war in Gaza.
The report also spoke of concerns that Hezbollah has been digging tunnels under the Israeli border, quoting citizens from the border areas as saying that they heard sounds of tunnel-digging under their homes.
Goldfus did not rule out the possibility, saying that it is a source of concern for the Israeli army, given the tunnels unearthed during the onslaught in Gaza.
Israel's recent offensive on the Gaza Strip ended with the announcement on August 26 of an open-ended cease-fire with the Palestinian resistance factions in the blockaded strip.
The devastating 51-day offensive left some 2,147Gazans dead and 11,000 injured – the vast majority of them civilians – while leaving thousands of residential structures in ruins.
According to Israeli figures, 67 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were killed over the course of the operation – the highest military death toll suffered by Israel since it lost 119 troops in its 2006 war on Lebanon.
By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en/world
