2. Lebanon
Lebanon doesn’t really has armed forces capable of seriously challenging Israel Defense Force, not it is really politically viable for a country that has received more than $220 million in the United States military aid (making it the fifth-biggest recipient of US military aid) to even consider using that aid to wage a war against one of the United States’ most important allies. So, what is it doing on our list of countries that may attack Israel? The answer is simple: Hezbollah. While the Iran-backed group is currently heavily involved in Syrian Civil War, their main goal of destroying Israel is always present. The latest clash between Hezbollah and Israel happened in 2016 when Islamists staged an ambush near Shebaa farms, a part of Golan Heights as a retaliation for IDF strike that killed several Hezbollah members, as well as Iranian Revolutionary Guards general Mohammad Ali Allahdadi who was with them at the time. For a while, it seemed that Israel was ready to commit to yet another invasion of Lebanon, but cooler heads prevailed and all-out war was avoided. One of the reasons Israel refused to escalate the conflict was the fact that Hezbollah has grown in strength significantly since the last war in 2006. The war in Syria was beneficial to the terror group, as it took advantage of Russian and Iranian instructors in the field and much easier access to modern weapons, like Russian 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missile, suspected used in Shebaa farms attack. While they lack the means to challenge IDF in air, on the ground things are bound to get messy in a potential conflict, considering that majority of fighting would take place in densely populated urban areas and Hezbollah’s readiness to retaliate against civilian targets deep within Israel territory.
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