Will Hizbullah Wage War on Israel to Avoid Civil Strife in Lebanon?: Haaretz
If the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indicts several Hizbullah members, the Shiite group could use an escalation against Israel to divert the political storm, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote.
It said it is not clear in which direction Lebanon is heading: Is it a country on the verge of collapse? Is it heading toward a civil war? A war against Israel? Or is it just facing another political crisis that too will pass?
There have been an increasing number of reports lately hinting at Hizbullah's preparations for a war against Israel, Haaretz went on to say, referring to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam which said Hizbullah has completed its preparations for a war against Israel, including the construction of an extensive network of tunnels throughout the whole of Lebanon.
Haaretz said the report comes amidst the threat of an escalation against Israel when the findings of the STL are published in the near future.
According to the report, Hizbullah has completed equipping its arsenal of missiles and weapons and finished building its defensive network against a possible Israeli attack. The network stretches from the length of the Lebanon's coast to the country's mountainous eastern region.
According to the same report, the decision whether to go to war is in Hizbullah's hands.
It said that the training undergone by Israeli soldiers would not aid them against Hizbullah due to the differing nature of the tunnels.
Likewise, Hamas has reportedly dug tunnels between Rafah and Gaza City of a similar nature to the Hizbullah tunnels, according to Haaretz.
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