Fears of escalation: Israel issues warning to Lebanon over army's alleged ties to Hezbollah

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Israel has sent a message to the Lebanese government warning that it could target the Lebanese Army if it continues what Israel claims is cooperation with Hezbollah, according to reports carried by Israeli news outlets.

The reports quoted an Israeli security official as saying the message alleged "unusual cooperation" between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah, warning that such coordination could plunge Lebanon into widespread destruction. 

The warning coincides with renewed Israeli focus on the disappearance of retired Lebanese General Security officer Ahmad Shukr, whose case has moved to the forefront of Israeli security discussions. 

Expectations have grown in Lebanon that Israel's intelligence service, Mossad, may have carried out an operation to abduct Shukr inside Lebanon to interrogate him over the long-unresolved disappearance of Israeli pilot Ron Arad, who went missing in South Lebanon in 1986.

Former Mossad officials have previously said that the Arad file preoccupies every Israeli security official who deals with Lebanon. Israeli officials are now hoping for progress on the case, according to media reports.

Despite speculation, some officials have cast doubt on whether the Arad file will be directly raised during talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Instead, Israel's relations with Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, and the war in Gaza are expected to feature prominently in the discussions, as attention increasingly shifts toward Iran and the possibility of a military strike against it.

As Israel awaits the outcome of the Trump-Netanyahu talks, a broader question is being asked with growing urgency inside the country: whether the drums of war will once again echo across the region more than two years after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Flood war. The meetings are widely seen as a potential turning point that could shape the region's trajectory in the early months of the New Year.