Israel knows that its response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 could provoke a wider regional conflictwhich It could be “a huge challenge”a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) clarified on Friday.

The IDF must “be prepared for this,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN on Friday. He noted that the military has called up “about 300,000 reservists in order to prepare for a possibility of a wider conflict.”

The Israeli military clarified that while reserves will be concentrated in Gaza, the IDF has reinforced its forces along the northern border with Lebanonwhere Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Islamist movement, has increasingly clashed with Israel’s military in the past week.

The manufacture, the Israeli Ministry of Defense stated that at least 23,000 residents of the city of Kiryat Shmona, located near the border with Lebanon, were told to leave, on top of an earlier plan to evacuate 28 communities who live within 2 kilometers of the Lebanese border.

Lerner thinks the Lebanese government responsible for Hezbollah’s actions, saying it is a sovereign state with control over its borders, and therefore has a “responsibility to ensure that terrorists like Hezbollah – a terrorist army – do not launch attacks against Israel”. He also claimed that “Hezbollah, under the direction and encouragement of Iran, is trying to distract us.”

Lerner warned that while the israeli military’s sole focus right now is on “demolition and destruction of Hamas step by step”, Hezbollah should pay “close attention” and “to think if he really wants to cross that line” with Israel.