Next Israeli war against Lebanon will inflict enormous damage

Israel is preparing to launch a devastating attack against Lebanon as the developments in Syria are one of the factors that could upset the calm, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday. “This means carrying out a very strong attack against Lebanon, and the damage will be enormous," said a senior officer in the Northern Command of the 91st Division, which is responsible for the front with Lebanon. The report said that the collapse of the Syrian regime will “increase the Jihadi or Hizbullah operatives, who will try to carry out attacks in the area.” The Israeli Northern Command intelligence described certain areas along the Lebanese-Syrian border as a “lawless zones,” that are used to transfer advanced weapons into the region. The senior officer told Haaretz that the third Israeli war against Lebanon will include ground maneuvers in Hizbullah bastions. "The next war will be different, and therefore we should stop it as quickly as possible, in order to make things easier for the home front,” he pointed out. According to the senior officer “there is no choice but to fight against the enemy where it is, and that is in the heart of a populated area.” The Israeli Defense Forces previously said that Hizbullah owns 60,000 missiles, ten times more than the quantity it had during the first war. Hizbullah, according to IDF, has the capability to launch a large quantity of rockets in a short period time, and this could cause significant damage to the Israeli front. On Thursday, Brigadier-General Hertzi Halevy said that there are several factors that can ignite a war with Lebanon. “The IDF is preparing seriously and professionally for another Lebanon war. The response will need to be sharper, harder, and in some ways very violent. The next war will witness very heavy exchanges of fire on both sides, and so both need to make every effort to stop this from happening,” he told reporters. In June, the Jerusalem Post voiced Israeli fears that Hizbullah will try to move sophisticated weaponry, including Scud missiles, from Syria to Lebanon to protect them in the event of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s downfall. Israeli officials believed that the missiles would only be transferred to Lebanon in the event of a war with Israel but now that Syria is in the midst of an uprising, there is concern that the Lebanese party might try to move them to prevent rebels or other rogue elements from putting their hands on them. Syrian Scud Ds have a range of about 700 km. and can carry non-conventional warheads, it warned.