Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the National Security Council and currently a senior member of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), spoke about Israel’s current conflict with Hezbollah on Kol BaRama Radio on Tuesday. “We’re not in an all-out war,” he said. “We’re not wiping out Dahieh [Beirut suburb and Hezbollah stronghold], and they’re not firing at Tel Aviv. All the targets we’ve taken out are less than 10% of Hezbollah’s capabilities.” ” For 20 years, we preferred to invest in Lebanon instead of Gaza, and the results can be seen in the past few weeks,” Amidror added in a veiled criticism of the IDF’s failure to predict and defend against the October 7 assault. In an interview with Globes on Monday, Amidror said that Israel is now ready for a full-out war with Hezbollah but Hezbollah is not, explaining that if the terror group wanted war it would have dramatically expanded its fire. Since it hasn’t done so despite Israel’s “exploding devices” operation, the IDF’s targeted eliminations in Beirut and numerous strikes throughout Lebanon, it’s evident that Hezbollah is not currently interested in a war. Amidror believes there’s one question hanging over Israel right now: “Iran is waiting around the corner and seemingly needs to get involved. This is a serious event, and the question is whether it fits into the Iranian interest picture. I don’t know, and I don’t have an answer to how long they will wait before significantly escalating the situation. I think they understand the shift in the strategic situation.” “Something big has changed in the Middle East,” Amidor continued. “Have you asked yourself the most natural question – how will Hamas respond to these assassinations? After all, Sinwar’s dream is for Hezbollah to go crazy and fire at Israel from the north but where’s the support from Hamas for that? Not even a single barrage. Why? Because you need to understand – Israel doesn’t have two fronts at its borders right now; it has a front and an eighth. That’s a huge difference.” Amidror criticized Israel’s lack of preparation for an all-out war, saying: “To deal with security threats, we needed very extensive activity in the area of evacuation and construction over the years, or at least to ensure the construction of secure rooms, where the risk of being hit by rocket fire is ten times less. Israel failed to implement even this at the right pace. There are plenty of similar issues that need to be examined.” “Do you think the residents of Haifa and the surrounding areas should be prepared for evacuation?” the Globes reporter asked. “I don’t know. And not because I’m not in the position right now but because I’m sure neither side knows what will happen. It depends on developments. I think Israel, more than Hezbollah, is ready to take the risk of reaching that threshold of total war, but even it prefers that it doesn’t come to that. How long will this last? In my opinion, both sides have no idea.” Amidror added that the goal of the IDF’s strikes in Lebanon is to pressure Hezbollah into an agreement or to push it away from the border. “We’re going back to something that looks like – but isn’t – the security zone we […]