Former envoy: Israel won't initiate war with Lebanon

The Jewish state will not be the party to initiate any future war with Lebanon, the former Israeli ambassador to Egypt told a Kuwaiti daily in an interview published Saturday, but warned that Tel Aviv’s response would be severe should rockets by Hizbollah, or any other Arab state, target his country. Isaac Levanon, in an interview with Alrai newspaper, also dismissed reports that Israel was backing President Bashar Assad and said various Israeli leaders, including President Shemon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had announced or were of the view that Assad should leave. Levanon said the Syrian people had made their choice, as in other Arab countries where unrest led to the departure of longstanding Arab rulers, and that Damascus would have to abide by their demands. Asked whether Israel was concerned its front with Syria would be unstable should Assad fall, Levanon said should Assad depart, the future government would be likely too concerned with internal affairs, adding that he believed any new government would likely be opposed to Iran and Hizbollah.