EXCLUSIVEIsrael is on the brink of 'full-scale war with Hezbollah', warns ex-IDF intelligence officer - as the leader of the Iran-backed terror group says 'no place' would be safe, while also threatening to attack Cyprus
Israel is on the brink of a 'full-scale war with Hezbollah', an ex-IDF intelligence officer has chillingly warned.
Avi Melamed, who used to work for Israeli intelligence, claimed the Iran-backed terror group is running out of Israeli targets to hit without provoking a significant counterstrike by Jerusalem.
He told MailOnline: 'Since October 8, Hezbollah has harassed Israel's northern communities, turning them into ghost towns through its aerial strikes both of missiles and attack drones,' Melamed added.
'It has also managed to ignite forest fires in northern Israel, all in service of its partners in Gaza, part of Iran's network of "resistance". But, its success has also left it with very few viable targets left that won't result in a significant Israeli strike.'
'On Israel's northern border, the ever-growing exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah is bringing the conflict to the brink of crossing over to a full-scale war,' Melamed added.
This comes as Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that 'no place' would be safe, while also threatening to attack Cyprus. In a dramatic escalation in rhetoric, Nasrallah said his group would fight with 'no rules' and 'no ceilings' in the event of a broader war.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said 'there will be no place safe from our missiles and our drones' in Israel in the event of a broader war (file image of Nasrallah)
Smoke billows from fires ignited by Israeli shelling on the forested areas of the southern Lebanese village of Deir Mimas on June 15, 2024
Mourners carry the coffin of Sally Skaiki, a day after she was killed along with Dalal Ezzedine in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Jannata, during their funeral in Deir Kanoun, east of Tyre on June 15, 2024
An interception of a rocket launched from Lebanon to Israel over the border, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, close the Israeli border with Lebanon June 13, 2024
A picture taken from the Israeli border with Gaza shows an Israeli army tank manoeuvering inside the Gaza Strip, on June 4, 2024
Nasrallah was speaking at a memorial event for a commander killed in an Israeli strike last week - the most senior Hezbollah figure to be killed so far in the current conflict with Israel.
'Israel has managed to continuously attack Hezbollah commanders, military infrastructure and fighters,' Melamed said.
In a strike yesterday, Israeli jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in the Tyre area in Lebanon, according to the IDF.
Melamed said that the strike 'highlights not only Israel's prowess both in gathering intelligence and acting on it, but also the significant number of additional targets it can strike at will without igniting a full-scale war'.
He added increased exchange of fire is also causing internal pressure within Iran's axis of resistance and defiance for Hamas to compromise and sign the Israeli-American deal on the table, giving Hezbollah the "excuse" to take the step back.'
Melamed warned: 'Hezbollah is at a crossroads on both the political and operational routes where unless it is given an exit ramp, it will force itself to trigger a full-scale war with Israel.
'This is why it's extremely likely that the rumours of Hezbollah pressuring Hamas to sign the deal that would bring a ceasefire to Gaza which Hezbollah can claim it had a hand in pressuring the US and Israel into.'
Meanwhile, Hezbollah chief Nasrallah said that nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war breaks out between the two foes, and also threatened EU member Cyprus for the first time and other parts of the Mediterranean.
Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel for more than eight months in parallel with the Gaza war. On Tuesday, the Iran-backed group published what it said was drone footage of sensitive military sites deep in Israeli territory.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said 'there will be no place safe from our missiles and our drones' in Israel in the event of a broader war.
The group also had 'a bank of targets' that it could target in precision strikes, he said.
Mourners and relatives carry the coffins of Dalal Ezzedine and Sally Skaiki, a day after they were killed in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Jannata, during their funeral in Deir Kanoun, east of Tyre on June 15, 2024
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, as seen from an area near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, 19 June 2024
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gives a televised address during a ceremony, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon May 31, 2024
Relatives visit the graves of killed Hezbollah fighters during Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura near the border with Israel on June 17, 2024
A view of the targeted area after Hezbollah carried out one of the largest missile attacks on northern Israel on June 12, 2024
Israel 'knows that what also awaits it in the Mediterranean is very big ... In the face of a battle of this magnitude, it knows that it must now wait for us on land, in the air, and at sea,' Nasrallah added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had warned on Tuesday that a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon and Israel's military said 'operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated'.
Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus - the EU member state in closest proximity to Lebanon, with which it has cordial relations - accusing it of allowing Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises.
'The Cypriot government must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means that the Cypriot government has become part of the war and the resistance (Hezbollah) will deal with it as part of the war,' Nasrallah said.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides denied any suggestion Cyprus was taking sides in any conflict.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz (pictured) had warned on Tuesday that a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon and Israel's military said 'operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated'
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese village of Jebbain, near the border with Israel on May 25, 2024
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (pictured) denied any suggestion Cyprus was taking sides in any conflict
'It (Cyprus) is not part of the problem, it is part of the solution. That role is evident, for example, through the humanitarian (aid) corridor which has been acknowledged not only by the Arab world, but from the international community,' he said, referring to shipments of aid from Cyprus to Gaza.
Cyprus is not known to offer any land or base facilities to the Israeli military, but has in the past allowed Israel to use its vast airspace - its flight information region - to occasionally conduct air drills, but never during conflict.
Ex-intelligence officer Melamed said on the Hezbollah threats: 'Nasrallah's comments [on Wednesday] speak for the Iranian regime in that Tehran has laid claim to a foothold in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea and by effect, has put Cyprus in its crosshairs.
'While the words were spoken from Nasrallah's mouth, their author sits in Tehran.
'This move comes after years of failed Western Policy which has unsuccessfully dealt with Iran's Hegemonic plans which wrought instability throughout the Middle East, currently threatens trade and global commercial shipping in the Red Sea via the Houthis and now will threaten Europe’s Natural Gas supply chain in the Eastern Basin through Hezbollah.
'Unless the West decides to change its standard operating procedure and to in fact directly address Iran, Tehran has telecasted what it plans to do.'
Hezbollah unleashed its largest volleys of drones and rockets at Israel in retaliation.
U.N. officials expressed concern at the escalation, and U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein travelled to Israel and Lebanon to urge both sides not to move into a full-scale conflict.
Hezbollah first showed it could hit a vessel at sea by striking an Israeli warship in the Mediterranean during their 2006 war.
Reports by media and analysts have for years indicated that Hezbollah acquired Russian-made anti-ship Yakhont missiles in Syria, after its forces deployed there more than a decade ago to help President Bashar al-Assad fight the country's civil war.
