Report: Hezbollah raises alert level

YNet News (Link) - Roee Nahmias (February 6, 2010)

Hezbollah has raised the alert level among its fighters, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported Saturday, citing Lebanese sources.

According to the report, the Shiite group�s leaders were instructed to take precautionary measures for fear of an Israeli strike.

The Lebanese sources told the newspaper Hezbollah believes the chances of an Israeli attack have increased in light of the belligerent back and forth between Israel and Syria.

For the most part, Hezbollah has so far refrained from directly addressing the war of words between Jerusalem and Damascus.

Also on Saturday, Syria�s state-run Tishreen newspaper published an editorial saying that Damascus believes the recent threats made by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reflect the Israeli government�s intention to wage new wars in the Middle East.

According to the Syrian regime�s mouthpiece, �Israel thought it could wage wars and not suffer the consequences � but it was wrong. It (Israel) tested the patience of Syria and the Arab and Islamic nations � and it turned out that this patience has its limits. Israel is testing Syria�s determination to return its conquered land by all the legitimate means at its disposal.

�The path to peace is open and its conditions are known, but the path of destruction can also open the moment Israel complies with the aggressive tendencies of leaders who have crime running in their veins and their way is the way of the mafia,� the editorial read.