Although Israel’s Sunni jihadist Hamas neighbors to the country’s southwest may take up more international headlines, it is Israel’s Shiite jihadist Hezbollah neighbors to the country’s Lebanese (and, of a more recent vintage, Syrian) north that many feel poses a greater long-term challenge to Israel’s national security interests. Hezbollah, after all, is a proxy of the terrorist Iranian regime and is exceedingly well-armed in terms of its missile and rocket arsenal. Consider this 2016 piece at The Tower bluntly entitled, “The New Hezbollah: Israel’s Next War Will Be A Godawful Mess”:
Hezbollah’s own preparations for its next war with Israel betray its intentions to once again act as a guerrilla force. Hezbollah has expanded and upgraded its already formidable underground tunnel network in south Lebanon. Replicating its strategy of using civilian cover, it has built up over 200 Shiite villages into fortified fighting zones, with rockets, anti-aircraft missiles, and command centers. Israel will be forced once again to choose between the unsavory options of striking the villages and killing civilians, or withholding fire. Despite rhetoric from the IDF brass that these areas will be considered targetable military bases, the Gideon Doctrine still acknowledges this as a real dilemma.
.png)
.png)
