Israel's Security Minister said that Hezbollah's strong results in the Lebanese parliamentary election show that the state is indistinguishable from the Iranian-backed Shiite group and that Israel should not distinguish between them in any future war.
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"The State of Israel will not differentiate between the sovereign State of Lebanon and Hezbollah, and will view Lebanon as responsible for any action from within its territory," Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Twitter.
תוצאות הבחירות בלבנון מבססות את תפיסתנו מזה זמן:
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) 7 мая 2018 г.
חיזבאללה=לבנון
מדינת ישראל לא תבדל בין מדינת לבנון הריבונית לבין חיזבאללה ותראה בלבנון כנושאת באחריות לכל פעולה היוצאת משטחה.
Lebanese citizens, for the first time since 2009, were able to vote in the parliamentary elections after the current parliament extended its term three times under the pretext of political instability.
Since 1960, the law of the so-called Majority was adopted in Lebanon within the framework of the parliamentary election. Each region of the country had a certain number of seats with a fixed number of seats assigned to each religious denomination. The group of candidates from the region, which had more votes, won.
Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shiite movement founded in 1980s and involved in several military conflicts with Israel. The group is also supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is a representative of the Alawites, a Syrian Shiite minority.
In 2006 Israelis armed forces invaded Lebanon in retaliation for a cross-border raid by Hezbollah which resulted in several Israeli soldiers being killed and two being abducted. The ensuing conflict lasted 34 days and ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire.
While both Israel and Hezbollah have say that they do not want to engage in another war, they have also said that they will not hesitate if the other side attacks.
