TEL AVIV — In response to the killing of an Iranian general and Hezbollah members, Israel believes Hezbollah will carry out a major terrorist attack in Israel or against Jewish or Israeli targets abroad, Middle Eastern defense officials told WND.
The Middle Eastern defense officials also stated Israel believes Hezbollah may try to assassinate an Israeli politician or public figure.
WND Tuesday cited sources in Lebanon saying the country is bracing for an attack from Israel if the Iranian-backed Hezbollah retaliates.
The defense officials say Israel views as unlikely the prospect of Hezbollah responding to Sunday’s attack by launching rockets or missiles into the Jewish state. They assess the Iranian-backed Hezbollah is not interested in risking a larger confrontation with Israel. Hezbollah has been bogged down attempting to quell the insurgency targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Still, there is information indicating Hezbollah in recent weeks managed to transport missiles and drones into the Golan Heights. Explosives-laden drones could be utilized to attempt to infiltrate Israeli territory and carry out a large-scale attack.
According to the Mideast defense officials speaking to WND, Hezbollah and Iran have been planning an imminent counterinsurgency against rebel-held positions inside and near the Syrian sections of the Golan Heights aimed at taking the strategic border territory.
Israel fears the establishment of Hezbollah positions in the Golan Heights could be used in the future as bases to storm into Jewish communities on the Israel side of the border.
On Tuesday, an Israeli official took the unusual step of recognizing the country was behind the strike on a Hezbollah convoy near the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. The attack killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammed Allahdadi as well as a Hezbollah commander and the son of the group’s late military leader, Imad Muughniyeh. Hezbollah said six of its members died in the strike.
Reuters on Tuesday quoted a senior Israeli security source stating Allahdadi was not the intended target and that Israel believed it was attacking only low-ranking Hezbollah members who were attempting to carry out an attack on the border.
Asked if Israel expected Iranian or Hezbollah retaliation, the source told Reuters: “They are almost certain to respond. We are anticipating that, but I think it’s a fair assumption that a major escalation is not in the interest of either side.
“We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed – certainly not the Iranian general,” the source said. “We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence.
“We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation.”
Unmentioned in scores of news reports covering the Israeli strikes is that last Thursday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah gave a three-hour interview in which he threatened to dispatch commando teams to overrun Israeli communities in the Galilee region adjacent to the Golan Heights.
Speaking to the Lebanese Al Mayadeen network, Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah “is ready and prepared for a confrontation in the Galilee and beyond the Galilee.”
According to sources in the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli military waited until the Hezbollah convoy was about four miles from the Israel-Syria border before dispatching Hellfire missiles for the attack.
Iran threatened to hit back. Iran Revolutionary Guards’ chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted on Tuesday as telling the state-run Fars news agency: “These martyrdoms proved the need to stick with jihad. The Zionists must await devastating thunderbolts.”
