Report: Iranian Threat On Israel’s Northern Front ‘Extremely Significant’

TEL AVIV – The threat posed by Iran’s proxy terror group Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border is “extremely significant,” according to an Israeli news report aired Sunday.

Israel’s security cabinet has held several meetings in recent days to discuss Iran’s presence in Lebanon and Syria and the implications for the Jewish state once the Syrian civil war ends.

“Due to limitations imposed by the military censor, I can’t give the full information,” said Channel 10 diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid, “but after more than a decade of covering the security cabinet, I can judge that the discussions over the last few days about the northern front were extremely significant.”

Ravid quoted remarks made by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman in October.

“Syria and Lebanon have become one military entity. Israel must prepare for a new challenge … on the northern front,” he cited Liberman as saying. “Any developments will be due to Hezbollah, Assad’s regime and all those collaborating with Assad’s regime, along with the Lebanese army. Unfortunately, this is the reality.”

According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his campaign to make world leaders aware of the threat posed by an Iran that is gaining an ever stronger foothold in Lebanon and Syria, holding several telephone conversations with western counterparts in recent weeks.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said last week that the most immediate danger Israel faced was from Hezbollah in Lebanon, followed by other Iranian-backed militias positioned on Israel’s border with Syria. Hamas, the ruling terror group in Gaza, did not even factor into Eisenkot’s remarks.

Iran is a “multidimensional threat” that is spending $1.5 billion on proxies based in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and most recently Palestinian terror groups, the army chief said, and underscored that Iran’s quest for nuclearization is still the most troubling factor.

The IDF will take any action necessary to prevent further encroachment of Iran-backed militias on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, Eisenkot said.