12/05/2008 The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the decision by the unconstitutional government of Fouad Saniora on Hezbollah's communications network had been planned a long time ago.
 
According to the daily, the sources blamed Saniora's government for underestimating Hezbollah's reaction. Ha'aretz as well as Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot also unveiled what they said was the significant role the network played during July war, enabling Hezbollah to secretly manage the battle against Israeli forces. They noted that the network was a major part of the camouflage tactic that gave Hezbollah the upper hand in the Second Lebanon war.
 
Meanwhile, Israeli Labor Minister Ami Ayalon called for an urgent meeting for the minimized security committee to discuss the situation in Lebanon. He described the current circumstances as critical, calling on the Israeli government to draw a new policy towards Hezbollah.
 
For his part, Israeli military intelligence chief General Amos Yedlin considered the latest incidents in Lebanon as another hit to the so-called moderate bloc in Lebanon "in its struggle against the resistance bloc."
 
In the same framework, Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman called for an extraordinary meeting for the security and state department commission with the presence of the heads of security bodies to discuss the latest developments in Lebanon.
 
"Unfortunately, what happening in Lebanon indicates to the deterioration of the US control in the Middle East, starting from Iraq, Israel's fiasco in destroying Hezbollah in July 2006 and Hamas' control in the Gaza strip, not to forget the danger in Lebanon where the West and Arab States are not taking any action," Israeli expert in Lebanese politics, Amir Nier, said.
 
Israeli media outlets quoted an Israeli security sources as ruling out the possibility of a confrontation with Hezbollah in the near future. However, the Israeli intelligence raised its level of alert fearing Hezbollah could take advantage of its force in Lebanon to accumulate its combative tools and strengthen its bases south of Litani River.
 
The chief of the search department in the military intelligence, Ami Dror, admitted that "Israel had lost a chance in the July war when it failed to crush Hezbollah…Now this party is more powerful than it was before the war, and this is what we've seen recently."
 
In the meantime, Israeli press sources related to intelligence affairs stated that the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has been operating in Beirut to gather and document information about Hezbollah. Then sources added that the DIA is operating with the help of agents in collaboration with Lebanese sides commissioned to photograph, sketch and marking different sites used by Hezbollah using state of the art equipment.  Their goal, according to Israeli press sources, is to create a bank of targets and enable CIA agents in Beirut to strike them whenever needed.