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		</div><p>Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hizbullah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed factions and analysts say.</p>
<p>Almost daily exchanges of fire have occurred along Lebanon’s frontier with northern Israel since fighters from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip staged a bloody assault on southern Israel in early October that set off a war in Gaza.</p>
<p>The situation to the north worsened this month after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hizbullah military commander in southern Lebanon.</p>
<p>Hizbullah retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets and explosive drones into northern Israel.</p>
<figure id="attachment_183663" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-183663" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/BB5A204A-E88E-4B7F-B70C-03513C980238.webp" alt="" width="640" height="427" class="size-full wp-image-183663" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-183663" class="wp-caption-text">Destroyed houses in Khiam, a town near the Lebanese-Israeli border, that was hit by Israeli air strikes on Friday</figcaption></figure>
<p>Israeli officials have threatened a military offensive in Lebanon if there is no negotiated end to push Hizbullah away from the border.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, Iran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan fought together in Syria’s 13-year conflict, helping tip the balance in favour of Syrian president Bashar Assad.</p>
<p>Officials from Iran-backed groups say they could also join together again against Israel.</p>
<p>Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Wednesday that militant leaders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other countries have previously offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to help Hizbullah , but he said the group already has more than 100,000 fighters.</p>
<p>“We told them, thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have,” Mr Nasrallah said.</p>
<p>Mr Nasrallah said the battle in its current form is using only a portion of Hizbullah&#8217;s manpower, an apparent reference to the specialised fighters who fire missiles and drones.</p>
<p>But that could change in the event of an all-out war. Mr Nasrallah hinted at that possibility in a speech in 2017 in which he said fighters from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan “will be partners” of such a war.</p>
<p>Officials from Lebanese and Iraqi groups backed by Iran say Iran-backed fighters from around the region will join in if war erupts on the the Lebanon-Israel border. Thousands of such fighters are already deployed in Syria and could easily slip through the porous and unmarked border.</p>
<figure id="attachment_183664" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-183664" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6B435AA5-F2DC-4610-BAD5-A37A9F9DE344.webp" alt="" width="640" height="423" class="size-full wp-image-183664" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-183664" class="wp-caption-text">Houthi fighters march during a rally of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against the US strikes on Yemen outside Sanaa in January</figcaption></figure>
<p>Some of the groups have already staged attacks on Israel and its allies since the Israel-Hamas war started October 7th. The groups from the so-called “axis of resistance” say they are using a “unity of arenas strategy” and they will only stop fighting when Israel ends its offensive in Gaza against their ally, Hamas.</p>
<p>“We will be (fighting) shoulder to shoulder with Hizbullah” if an all-out war breaks out, one official with an Iran-backed group in Iraq told The Associated Press in Baghdad, insisting on speaking anonymously to discuss military matters. He refused to give further details.</p>
<p>The official, along with another from Iraq, said some advisers from Iraq are already in Lebanon.</p>
<p>Eran Etzion, former head of policy planning for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a panel discussion hosted by the Washington-based Middle East Institute on Thursday that he sees “a high probability” of a “multi-front war”.</p>
<p>He said there could be intervention by the Houthis and Iraqi militias and a “massive flow of jihadists from (places) including Afghanistan, Pakistan” into Lebanon and into Syrian areas bordering Israel.</p>
<p>Daniel Hagari, Israel’s military spokesperson, said in a televised statement this past week that since Hizbullah started its attacks on Israel on October 8th, it has fired more than 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and drones toward Israel.</p>
<p>“Hizbullah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Mr Hagari said.</p>
<p>“Israel will continue fighting against Iran’s axis of evil on all fronts.”</p>
<p>Hizbullah officials have said they do not want an all-out war with Israel but if it happens they are ready.</p>
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