\n A senior Israeli military intelligence official warned Wednesday of a heightened threat of conflict on Israel's borders in the next two years as a result of \"escalation\" in the region.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a briefing to foreign journalists at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv, the official also said Israel would likely \"have to\" target civilian areas in Lebanon in a future confrontation with Hezbollah, given its distribution of weapons sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n The official's warning came after a Hezbollah attack killed two Israeli soldiers in January, raising fears of another all-out war, and as Israel continues to rail against a full nuclear deal between world powers and arch-foe Iran.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"If we speak about a war that one country or one organisation will all of a sudden start against Israel, the probability is even lower than it was two or three years ago,\" said the official, who requested that his name not be used.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"But the probability for war as a result of escalation... or miscalculation is much higher than it was in the past, because of the situation of organisations around Israel.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The official referred specifically to Hezbollah, with whom Israel fought a month-long war in 2006, and Iran's arming of the group.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The Iranian threat is a tangible threat to Israel. Iran has an aspiration to rule, to control the Middle East.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"One of the tools Iran uses in order to implement this policy is Hezbollah,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The official added that a nuclear deal with Iran allowing the Islamic republic to prosper economically would likely lead to more funding of its proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah.\n<\/p>\n
\n World powers are conducting sensitive negotiations with Iran aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons, in exchange for an easing of punishing economic sanctions.\n<\/p>\n
\n The army official warned that in a future conflict with Hezbollah, Israel would \"have to\" target civilian areas.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said Hezbollah currently possesses more than 100,000 rockets hidden in civilian areas in Lebanese villages that could hit northern Israel, including \"hundreds\" which could reach anywhere in the Jewish state.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Each (village) is a military stronghold. Next time we have a war with Hezbollah, we will have to attack each one of these targets, and we hope the population will not be there,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Israel is still reeling from a report by an army veterans NGO earlier this month which alleged the military acted with disregard for civilian casualties during its July-August conflict with Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.\n<\/p>\n
\n The military has opened investigations, including into deadly incidents where the army shelled UN schools.\n<\/p>\n
\n So far, it has charged three soldiers with looting during the war that killed 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Palestinians are preparing to sue Israeli officials through the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes during the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A senior Israeli military intelligence official warned Wednesday of a heightened threat of conflict on Israel's borders in the next two years as a result of \"escalation\" in the region. In a briefing to foreign journalists at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv, the official also said Israel would likely \"have to\" target civilian areas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n