Hezbollah's cross-border strikes on Israel 'risk a second war'

When the news first broke of the Hamas attack early on 7 October, Itai Reuveni and the other reservists in his paratrooper battalion packed their bags and arrived at their muster point well before their call-up came from the army.

- Julian Borger

The paratroopers did not head south to Gaza but to the northern border, where they believed a far greater threat than Hamas was poised to join the fight: Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement backed by Tehran.

"We're here to make sure that no one does to us in the north what they did to us in the south," said Reuveni, 40, a master sergeant who in his civilian life does thinktank research on terrorist financing.

"We understand that Hezbollah is much more sophisticated [than Hamas]. We understand it's not 3,000 fighters that come over the border, it will be much more, and you'll also have Iran in the equation. We are here to deal with that."

Reuveni is not alone in seeing Hezbollah as the greater danger. The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and other hawks in the cabinet argued for a pre-emptive strike against the militant group in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack. That caused alarm in Washington, fearful of a regional war that could pull Iran into the fight.

With US backing, Benjamin Netanyahu fended off the proposal, but the conviction has taken hold among Israeli politicians, generals and a widening slice of the public that a new war in Lebanon is inevitable.

Since they arrived at Rosh Hanikra, where the border meets the Mediterranean coast, Reuveni's 7056th paratrooper battalion has been involved in a low-intensity conflict.

Hezbollah has fired on Israeli border towns and villages in a show of support for Gazans, and Israel has struck back with artillery and airstrikes.

In recent days, the fight has escalated, and the civilian death toll is rising: four Israelis and at least 14 local Lebanese residents. Three journalists have been killed by Israeli drone and tank strikes.