Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is “close to making a mistake that could lead this entire region into a war,” IDF Military Intelligence Directorate head Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva says.
Speaking on Monday at a conference hosted by the Institute for Policy and Strategy of Reichman University in Herzliya, Haliva said that the roadside bomb planted in March by a terrorist who infiltrated the country from Lebanon was “not a one-off thing, unfortunately.”
Israeli forces killed the perpetrator as he was attempting to return to Lebanon after the bomb at the Megiddo Junction in the north of the country wounded an Israeli Arab.
Haliva said that Nasrallah could repeat the mistake he made in 2006 by starting a war with Israel.
The general also cautioned that despite the region’s newfound embrace of Syrian President Bashar Assad, he continues to allow tensions to increase at the Israeli border. He cited the example of an Iranian drone brought down in April after it crossed into Israeli airspace.
On the Palestinian front, Haliva said that while Hamas was looking for quiet in Gaza following “Operation Guardian of the Walls” in May 2021, the terrorist group was seeking opportunities to attack Israel in Lebanon and Syria and also in Jordan, which he said was concerning given the close coordination between Jerusalem and Amman.
Given the “great potential for escalation in the region … our enemies must not mistake us,” he said. “We will do everything necessary to bring peace and quiet.”
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