By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Newsweek
According to IOF officials, Hezbollah has roughly 200,000 rockets, mortars, drones, and other weapons that could inflict heavy damage on the occupation.
Although it would not be the first, Israeli officials are worried the situation could lead to total disaster in the region.
Eran Etzion, who served as deputy head of "Israel's" National Security Council during the last war in 2006, told Newsweek that the war would bring unprecedented destruction to "Sensitive areas" within the occupation, detailing that he believes "Israel" would lose "within 24 hours" and emphasizing that it was difficult to see how the war "can be won quickly, or at all."
"From my perspective, I think it's going to be a war that Israel will lose within the first 24 hours," he said, adding that "simply because of the pictures we will see of mass destruction in very sensitive areas within Israel on a scale we've never seen before."
According to Israeli military officials, Hezbollah has roughly 200,000 rockets, mortars, drones, surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank missiles, precision-guided munitions, and other weapons.
Earlier on Thursday, the IOF claimed that one of its soldiers was killed and 10 others were injured as a result of Hezbollah's operation against an Israeli military gathering in Elkosh settlement on Wednesday.
However, according to reliable information to Al Mayadeen, the number of Israelis killed in the operation carried out by Hezbollah reached three.
Israeli media highlighted that the hits resulting from Hezbollah's Elkosh operation were severe, deeming it the most serious incident in the northern front since the beginning of the confrontations due to its distance from the border with Lebanon and the extent of the inflicted losses.
Meanwhile, nearly 80,000 settlers have been relocated from northern settlements since the war on Gaza began, while the UN reports an estimated 93,000 Lebanese have been displaced from the south. Scores of Lebanese civilians have also been killed.
A new study conducted by Tel Hai Academic College in "Israel" revealed that around 40% of evacuees from the settlements in northern occupied Palestine are contemplating not returning even after the war ends.
The Palestinian death toll has now topped over 36,000 Palestinians and a new escalation with Hezbollah could far exceed such numbers since Hezbollah has the firepower to do great damage.
Shemuel Meir, former head of the Arms Control Branch of the IOF's Strategic Planning Department, told Newsweek that an invasion of Lebanon would bring about a retaliation "of massive missile attacks on Haifa and Tel Aviv."
A Hezbollah spokesperson told Newsweek that despite the threats made by the occupation,"whoever has a loud voice cannot do anything," adding that the Israelis have "not emerged from their quagmire in Gaza after eight months with any achievement other than killing innocent civilians and children."
"Hezbollah is always ready for anything," the spokesperson vowed, "and will defend its citizens and its land without any hesitation."
US support 'critical'
Doron Avital, a former commander of the IOF's elite Sayerat Matkal unit who has conducted and oversaw past operations in Lebanon, warned that Hezbollah's capabilities would inflict a "price" on Israeli centers like Haifa, explaining that any war would need to be initiated by a "surprise attack" by, targeting "all the weaponry caches, long-range missiles in Baalbek, in the south of Lebanon, and then consider a ground campaign in the south."
He warned that the "devastation that we inflicted on Gaza" was making allies like the US less supportive of a war with Lebanon.
"I wouldn't want to go to war in Lebanon without being in sync with the U.S., which, of course, doesn't want it," Avital stated, emphasizing that US support was critical.
According to Etzion, "Once Hezbollah enters, the probability of Iran entering as well grows exponentially, and the degree of involvement of those other militias grows exponentially as well."
The US warned on Wednesday that an escalation with Lebanon would only harm the Israeli occupation's security after the entity's top officials increased their threats against the country in the past few days.
"We don't want to see that escalation of the conflict which would just lead to further loss of life from both Israelis and the Lebanese people and would greatly harm Israel's overall security and stability in the region," State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a press conference.
Settlements in northern occupied Palestine witnessed massive fires this week as a result of Hezbollah's operations, which come in support of Gaza and in response to repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanese towns and civilians.
Visiting Kiryat Shmona, the settlement that saw the most intense fires and that has been a focus for Hezbollah's attacks in the past month, Netanyahu said, "Israel is prepared for very strong action in the North. In one way or another, we will restore security to the North."
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