Israel is beefing up security across the country's northern regions in preparation for a possible attack from Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, defense officials told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Rumors of the "imminent" attack in the Galilee region, near the border with Syria, comes after Israel allegedly carried out an air strike that killed six Hezbollah members and an Iranian general in the Golan Heights region of Syria. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the Sunday attack.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in an interview last week that the group "is ready and prepared for a confrontation in the Galilee and beyond the Galilee" as retaliation for repeated Israeli air strikes in civil war-torn Syria, the Daily Mail reported.
Israeli Defense Forces have dispatched troops to the northern region. An Iron Dome anti-missile defense system was also stationed near the Syrian and Lebanese borders, the AP reported.
Victims of Sunday's strike include Mohammed Allahdadi, an Iranian general, and a commander named Abu Ali Tabatabai, who, according to the Daily Mail, worked for both Hezbollah and Iran. Also killed was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of top Hezbollah official Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Syria in 2008.
Major General Eyal Ben Reuven, a former deputy head of the IDF, said the Hezbollah and Iranian military officials were meeting on Sunday to plan an attack on Israel. But Iranian officials said Allahdahi was there to offer advice to the Syrian government on how to defeat Islamic State militants that have overrun the north.
Iran also threatened a "crushing response" to the Sunday strike, the Daily Mail reported, but the exact nature of the response is unclear.
Israel has allegedly stepped up air strikes in Syria ever since its civil war began in 2011 to prevent missiles from ending up in the hands of Hezbollah, the AP reported.
