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Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/for-israel-and-hezbollah-a-high-stakes-balancing-act/
Experts View Rising Tensions on Israel's Northern Border
(Times of Israel) Mitch Ginsburg - In January, after an Iranian general and several senior Hizbullah operatives were killed in the Syrian Golan Heights, reportedly by Israel, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, flew to Beirut. Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shimon Shapira, a former military secretary to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said: "He went there to restrain [Hizbullah], to ensure that Israel was not given a pretext to act with massive force." Shapira asserted that the entire notion of deterrence vis-a-vis Hizbullah "is an illusion." The sole reason for restraint is Iran, which wants to ensure that its investment in Hizbullah is saved as a deterrent against an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Former national security adviser Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Amidror agreed. He said that from the Iranian perspective, if Hizbullah triggers a war with Israel and is forced to pull its fighters out of Syria, "there is no way to save Bashar [Assad]."