Fears of a regional war rose Thursday after Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement said none of Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict, and Israel said it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive. Experts are divided on the prospect of wider war, almost nine months into Israel's vow to eradicate Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday Israel's top army spokesman said Hamas, as an ideology, cannot be eliminated. Others, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have also pointed to the difficulty of destroying the Islamist group. In a televised address, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said "no place" in Israel would "be spared our rockets" if war began. Nasrallah's Iran-backed group has exchanged near-daily fire with Israel since Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, but the fire from Hezbollah rockets, Israeli warplanes and other weapons has escalated in the past few weeks. As Israel-Hezbollah tensions drive fears of a widening Gaza war, FRANCE 24's Oliver Farry is joined by Scott Lucas, Political Analyst and Professor of International Politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin.
