Part 4 of Israel, Iran and Hezbollah: Israeli Military Plans to Destroy Hezbollah in Next War

Israel's border with Lebanon - Frontline with Hezbollah

This is part of our continuing look at a possible conflict between Israel and Hoezbollah if Israel strikes Iran.  For those interested, here is Part I, Part II and Part III of this series.  While Hezbollah has 60,000 missiles, the Shiite organization is still no match for the Israeli military.  Israel has recently made clear to Hezbollah that if it attacks Israel, the Israeli military is prepared to destroy Hezbollah and much of Southern Lebanon if necessary.  In a recent article in the UK's Telegraph, Israeli military sources make clear that if Hezbollah attacks Israel in response to an an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear program, Israel will seek to destroy Hezbollah and southern Lebanon will suffer massive damage in the process.  The headline alone in the Telegraph piece sums up Israel's intentions:

Any Hizbollah retaliation to an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would prompt Israel to launch a war in Lebanon so ferocious that it would take a decade to rebuild the villages it destroys, a senior Israeli military officer has warned.

 Hezbollah's missiles and military infrastructure in southern Lebanon is closely embedded within Shiite villages in the region.  The Israeli military leadership believes that Hezbollah's embedding of their missiles within civilian structures in 2006 led the IDF to take too cautious an approach against Hezbollah in the 2006 war, and they are determined not to make the same mistake next time:

"In these villages where Hizbollah has infrastructure I will guess that civilians will not have houses to come back to after the war," he said.

Pretty scary stuff I'd say.  The Israelis are sending both a clear message to Hezbollah of the risks of starting another war with Israel, as well as making clear that this time the IDF intends to finish the job.  Here is the entire Telegraph article.

El Khiam Village in Lebanon - Israel argues that Hezbollah's military assets are embedded within civilian buildings

El Khiam Village in South Lebanon - A major Hezbollah stronghold