TIME magazine has reported that signs point to Israel's preparing for an attack on Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon. Journalist Nicholas Blanford, writing from Beirut, pointed out that the IDF last week carried out a large-exercise as Israeli jets staged mock raids in Lebanese airspace. The flights drew anti-aircraft retaliation from Lebanese armed forces, the first time the army has shot at the planes since the end of the Second Lebanon War.
Branford also pointed out that Israel has reported to the United Nations that Hizbullah has re-armed with long-range missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv from north of the Litani River, outside the patrol area of U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The TIME journalist also reported that Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, outgoing deputy IDF Chief of Staff, said at a recent panel that Israel should conduct pre-emptive strikes in Hizbullah. Referring to Defense Minister Ehud Barak's refusal of IDF advice to attack Hizbullah after its terrorists kidnapped three Israeli soldiers in 2000, when Barak was prime minister, the reporter concluded, "That restraint encouraged Hizbullah over the next six years to build up an impressive military infrastructure of secret bunkers and rocket firing positions in the hills and valleys of south Lebanon, which was put to good use in last year's war."