It is the front line of Israel’s deepening conflict with Iran, and beneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Hermon the final preparations are taking shape for a conflict that promises to change the landscape of the modern Middle East.
On one side, amid the foothills of southern Lebanon, is Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia militia that is busily stockpiling thousands of missiles in readiness for the next round of hostilities against its sworn enemy, Israel.
On the other side stand the men and women of Israel’s armed forces, the defenders of the Jewish state who are working on their own plans to defeat the Tehran-controlled militia that is committed to Israel’s destruction.
The last time these two combatants clashed was in the summer of 2006, when Israel launched a full-scale onslaught against Hizbollah after it kidnapped two Israeli soldiers while they were patrolling the south Lebanon border. The Second Lebanon War, as it is known in Israel, lasted for 33 days and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,200 people. But it ended inconclusively with Hizbollah largely intact and Ehud Olmert, the hawkish Israeli prime minister who ordered the offensive, hounded from office over his handling of the conflict.
Today, though, there is a steely determination within Israel’s high command to finish the job once and for all and eradicate the threat Hizbollah poses to Israel’s security – as I discovered this week when I visited the Israeli-Lebanese border.
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