Israel anxiously watches its northern border for warning signs of a wider regional war

Israel's northern border with Lebanon and Syria represents a potential flashpoint in the conflict that erupted over the weekend — one that experts say bears watching over the next several days because it could be a harbinger of a wider regional war in the Middle East.

One thing is certain: Israel's military is paying close attention to that border.

So far, the Israeli military has focused primarily on clearing southern Israel of Hamas and striking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

It also has begun solidifying its defences on the northern border with Lebanon. That frontier represents an avenue for a potential second front with Hezbollah — the Iran-backed terrorist group experts are unanimous in describing as better-armed and better-trained than Hamas.

Six people were killed on Monday (three Hezbollah members, an Israeli officer and two Palestinian militants) in a clash that followed a small incursion across the northern border into Israel — small at least in comparison to the hundreds of Hamas militants who crossed the border from Gaza on the weekend.

Residents on both sides of the northern frontier experienced an eerie calm in the region Tuesday as they waited to see whether Hezbollah would join the fray in support of Hamas.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, citing open sources, reported that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah units (LH) deployed forces to Syria's southwestern border with Israel on Monday.

Separately, the institute noted that the Radwan Unit, a special Lebanese Hezbollah team focused on infiltrating Israeli territory, also arrived in Syria on Monday and headed for the border region.

The nonprofit research group flagged the events as "consistent with the scenario in which the Gaza War expands into a multi-front war surrounding Israel."

Israel has warned Syria about allowing a cross-border incursion but Hezbollah is supported extensively by the hardline regime in Tehran. Iran has been accused by many, including Canada's United Nations ambassador, of pulling the strings of the Palestinian terror group.

Retired Canadian major-general Denis Thompson said it's tough to predict which way the war is going to go.

"It's quite worrisome," said Thompson, who served as the multinational commander of the international peacekeeping force in the Sinai for three years — a mission that made him intimately familiar with the complexities of the region.

"It would be an order of magnitude more difficult for Israel if Hezbollah enters the war."

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari, said Monday that the IDF has not been able to state for certain whether Iran was involved in planning or training for the cross-border attack on Saturday.