Israel has deployed its Iron Dome Defense System near Lebanon's southern border, Col. Yoni Saada Marom, commander of Israel’s Active Defense Air Wing told the FoxNews.com site, reflecting heightened Israeli concerns following the Iranian nuclear deal.
Marom said that Hezbollah and other organizations close to Israel’s border pose a potentially heightened threat against the Jewish State though he refrained from linking this to the recent nuclear deal with Iran.
Critics of the deal have warned that lifting sanctions on Iran would give it access to over $100 billion in frozen assets, with concerns that Hezbollah could receive an injection of cash and weaponry as a result.
“Now we are dealing with the challenges and scenarios that we think the enemies from the north will bring. One of the scenarios could be that, like Hamas, they (Hezbollah) will try and challenge us with a variety of threats simultaneously - which is a great challenge - but we are developing our concepts of operation,” the colonel said.
Marom revealed that more batteries are now operational near Lebanon’s border and additional soldiers have been trained to operate to the sophisticated systems.
“As a military commander I cannot deal with their (Hezbollah’s) intentions,” Marom said. “They can do whatever they choose to do, and I, as a defender, need to be ready for that.”
While not making details public, Hezbollah has said its military capabilities have been significantly boosted since 2006. Neither side appears keen on resuming hostilities. The restraint has been tested, however, by occasional flare-ups in fighting.
The 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel killed around 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting Hezbollah inside Lebanon, while 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, were killed in Israeli strikes.
Hezbollah will never bow to pressure to normalize ties with Israel, party chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Tuesday.
"We are certain that Israel will fade away and Palestinians will reclaim their land despite all the tragedies... the Israeli terrorism remains above all."
