HEZBOLLAH terrorists were poised to stage the October 7 massacre as a two-pronged attack with Hamas, a former spy has revealed.
Brutes from the Iran-backed terror proxy plotted to storm over Israel’s northern border from Lebanon at the same time Hamas thugs swept in from Gaza.
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But Hamas only informed Hezbollah chiefs of when they were going to attack at the eleventh hour, according to former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed.
He said Hamas kingpins kept their cards close to their chest as they feared their plot could be foiled if Israel got wind of the mission.
Melamed told The Sun: “Apparently, there was some sort of miscommunication between Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Hamas apparently notified Hezbollah of the attack very shortly before the attack, because Hamas basically assumed Hezbollah is very breached.
“And Hamas was concerned about possible leaking from Hezbollah to the Israeli Intelligence Services.
“In the first hours, apparently after the attack, there was some vagueness. Hezbollah didn’t really know exactly what was going on.
“During those critical hours, Israel was actually recruiting all its reserve forces and moving swiftly to a high-alert situation.
“And apparently those couple of hours were critical in the decision or the fact that in the end Hezbollah did not join.”
Former Mossad agent Avner Avraham added: “They tried to plan it together, but they (Hamas) didn’t want to tell Hezbollah before.”
Hamas gunmen caught Israel off guard on October 7 with the most devastating surprise attack in its history as they stormed across the border from Gaza on motorbikes and handgliders.
Barbarians then unleashed scenes of unimaginable horror as they laid waste to kibbutzes and the Nova music festival, cruelly massacring more than 1,200 civilians and IDF soldiers.
At least 250 more were kidnapped and dragged back across the border to be held as hostages.
More than 100 captives were freed during a short-lived truce last November – but tragically dozens more have been brutally killed.
As of this month, more than 90 hostages still remain unaccounted for. Around a third are feared dead.
The horrifying October 7 atrocity sparked retaliation from Israel – with troops largely decimating the Gaza strip in a bid to eradicate Hamas and bring home its trapped civilians.
And just a day after the vile massacre, Hezbollah began pummeling Israel with rockets in solidarity with its twisted ally, Hamas.
But experts say Hezbollah staging an October 7-style assault is still a “strong possibility”.
Ex-Mossad officer Avraham said it is why Israel must establish a “limited war” to push Hezbollah from its border.
Hezbollah was supposed to have left the strip of land under the terms of a 2006 ceasefire deal but has continued to fire more than 9,000 rockets from bases in the area since October 7.
Avraham told The Sun Israel has already destroyed half of Hezbollah’s ability – and could stage a land invasion to finish the job.
Will Israel launch a ground invasion into Lebanon?
by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)
ISRAEL appears to be gearing up to stage a land invasion of Lebanon as they look to wipe out threatening Hezbollah positions.
Military bosses have massed tanks and 13,000 reservists at its northern border with Lebanon to pave the way for a bloody showdown with Hezbollah terror troops.
Former British army officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon says it will be “virtually impossible” for Israel to achieve its goal in Lebanon purely from the air.
Hundreds of people have been killed and half a million forced to flee their homes as Israel has pummelled areas of southern Lebanon used by Hezbollah with airstrikes.
Tensions have dramatically flared in the last week, sparking international pleas for a temporary ceasefire.
But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed cries for a truce and instead vowed to double-down on the Hezbollah blitz with “full force”.
It is now feared hostilities could spiral into an all-out war in the region and turn southern Lebanon into a “death zone”.
The world is now waiting with bated breath to see whether Israel will launch a ground invasion of Lebanon to wipe out Hezbollah posts.
The assassination of the Islamist firebrand on Friday along with a raft of commanders and the stunning success of its pager and walkie-talkie blitz has put Israel on the front foot.
And commanders are now urging Netanyahu to press home their advantage to secure a buffer zone which will make it safe for 60,000 Israeli refugees to return home.
Colonel de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun: “There is a lot of talk of Israeli tanks and infantry going into southern Lebanon.
“I expect the Israelis at the moment are trying to destroy all Hezbollah rocketry and equipment from the air.
“But I think history tells us that that is virtually impossible to do.
“I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that Israel will need to put ground forces into southern Lebanon – but it’s certainly a possibility.
“Hezbollah do not have land forces to be able to oppose it. And the Iranian militias in Syria probably don’t either.
“So if there was an incursion, I would have thought it’d be fairly short term to do particular raids and stuff.
Colonel de Bretton-Gordon also warned all-out war could break out in the Middle East if Iran “pour fuel on the fire”.
The Islamic Republic uses terror proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas to do its dirty work – and could pull the strings to escalate the conflict further.
Colonel de Bretton-Gordon said: “The key to this all is Iran.
“Iran are the people who support Hezbollah and Hamas, supply all their weapons.
“And they are the ones who can pour fuel on this particular fire, or they can pour water on the fire.
“The other element to that of course are the Russian. They might seem very far away, but the Iranians have just given the Russians a whole bunch of ballistic missiles, which to me is a strategic error.
“And of course the Russians would like to see the Middle East develop into a full scale war so that they can carry on their work in Ukraine.
“I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion by any means. It’ll be very much dependent on the Iranians, and no doubt the Americans, and the influence that they can bring to bear.”
Avraham said: “I believe in the next weeks we will have a limited war – not a wide war, I hope.
“And then I believe that we will together with countries around the world we will finish this by pushing Hezbollah to the north.
“We will make a death zone in the south of Lebanon. We will not allow anyone to live there. Because we don’t have any other choice.
“We are not looking for a war, we are looking for peace. But this is the situation.
“We have to remember that Hezbollah is the biggest terror organisation in the world that actually occupied Lebanon.
“And that is a very big challenge for us. And that’s why we need to establish a limited war, and to push, to detonate, all the armed forces from our border.
“Because after the massacre on October 7, we cannot have terrorists one metre after the borderline.
“We must have a zone without people.”
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Middle East expert Melamed said Hezbollah has been concocting a plan to occupy parts of northern Israel for many years.
And he warned terror chiefs could be determined to pull off a plot to “restore its pride” as Israel continues to diminish its firepower by blasting posts with bombs.
Melamed said: “Hezbollah has been saying for many years that it intends to occupy part of the Galilee (Israel’s northern region).
“It was a serious threat. It wasn’t baseless
“So currently what we see is Hezbollah sustaining massive damage across the board.
“But I would assume that the Israeli military leadership are still operating under the assumption that Hezbollah might try to launch a ground attack on Israeli northern communities.
“But Hezbollah has been very clearly saying for many years now, at least 15 years, that is its intention to occupy part of the Galilee.
“And perhaps now following the substantial damage that Hezbollah sustained in the last couple of weeks and the total loss of its deterrence image, Hezbollah may try even desperately to execute something like that, to restore its declining deterrence and to restore its pride.
“And so I would definitely take something like that very seriously.”
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