The probability of war “within the next few months” in northern Israel, on the border with Lebanon, is now “much higher than in the past,” Israel’s army chief of staff Hertzi Halevi said on Wednesday, according to AFP.

Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi (in the center)Photo: IDF / UPI / Profimedia

“We will start with a big advantage” over the enemy, he told reservists training on the northern border with Lebanon, where clashes with Lebanese Hezbollah have continued every day since Oct. 7.

The army previously said it had identified several shots fired from Lebanon towards Israeli territory.

“In response, military aircraft destroyed terrorist infrastructure” in southern Lebanon, the army said in a statement.

The armed wing of Hamas, which is allied with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and has fighters in Lebanon, said it fired 20 rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel “in response to the massacre in Gaza” and confirmed the death of a “combatant” in Lebanon.

Amid daily gunfire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanese border, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that a “total confrontation” between the two sides would be a “total disaster.”

Since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israeli territory that triggered the war in Gaza, the border with Lebanon has seen daily firefights between the Israeli army and Hezbollah and its allies.

More than 190 people have been killed in Lebanon in more than three months, including at least 141 Hezbollah fighters and 22 civilians, according to AFP.

According to the Israeli army, 15 people were killed on the Israeli side, including nine soldiers and six civilians.