“I believe that a prolonged ground invasion of south Lebanon will invite multiple foreign actors in the quagmire,” Lebanese American University academic Joseph Helou told Sputnik, commenting on the precarious situation in the region after Saturday’s deadly attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams.

“No previous Hezbollah-Israel showdown has witnessed implicit concession-making in the midst of the conflict without the brokerage of an international mediator. Therefore, such resolutions can help resolve the conflict once capable mediators begin to propose the issues that could remedy some of the conflictual matters,” Helou said.

Israeli Druze politician and Knesset member Akram Hasson takes the opposite view, expressing certainty about Hezbollah’s responsibility, and support for Netanyahu’s promise “that the Israeli army will not stop attacking Lebanon and [are] going to attack Hezbollah very hard.”