Another military conflict between Israel and Lebanon is "inevitable," Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled (Likud) Saturday at a Beersheba event.
"Without a doubt we are heading for another round (of fighting) in the North. No one knows when, but it's clear that it will happen," the former OC Northern Command said. "We did not know that the Second Lebanon War was going to break out."
Peled's comments came some three-and-a-half years after the Second Lebanon War against Hizbullah.
Also Saturday, The Washington Post reported that Hizbullah had moved long-range-missile launch pads into both northern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, and that there was little the UN presence in the area could do to stop a war between Israel and the guerrilla group.
Quoting Middle East analysts, The Washington Post report went on to say Hizbullah launch sites now likely extend past Beirut.
The IDF believes that Hizbullah has obtained Iranian-made Fajr missiles, either the Fajr 3 or Fajr 5. The Fajr 3 is five meters long and can carry a 45-kilogram warhead.
Lebanese MP Marwan Hamadeh was also quoted in the report, noting the influence of Iran and the United States on the regional conflict. "With Iran backing and supplying Hezbollah and the United States backing and supplying Israel, the battlefield is Lebanon," the anti-Hizbullah lawmaker reportedly said.
"This is where the Iranian missiles sit, and this is where the Israeli air force can reach," he added.