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"Hezbollah is coming," mourners chanted at Thursday's funeral of a Palestinian militant killed by Israel, his body wrapped in the flag of the Lebanese guerrilla group. A Hezbollah flag, along with Hamas banners, also adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last week. A shadowy group Palestinian security officials say is a front for Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rampage.Hezbollah has long operated behind the scenes in the Palestinian territories, funneling millions of dollars to militant groups for attacks against Israel, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. The Lebanese group's influence has become increasingly visible in the West Bank since last month's assassination of its military chief, Imad Mughniyeh, in an explosion in Syria that Hezbollah has blamed on Israel.
It remains unclear whether more Palestinian militants are simply taking their cue from Hezbollah, or whether the Lebanese group is getting more directly involved in violence in the Palestinian territories, in part to make good on its threat to avenge Mughniyeh. Hezbollah has been sending large amounts of money to Palestinian militants in the West Bank since 2000.
Israel is concerned that Hezbollah, with Iranian help, is trying to carry out a "quality attack" with many casualties that could trigger harsh Israeli retaliation and perhaps another Israel-Hezbollah war, the Israeli daily Maariv on Thursday quoted Israeli security officials as saying. Israel and Hezbollah fought a destructive but inconclusive monthlong war in 2006.
Israel has not said whether it was behind the car bomb that killed Mughniyeh. But since his death, Hezbollah's leaders have signaled they'll carry out revenge attacks in Israel itself, not just against Israeli targets abroad, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Hezbollah specialist in Lebanon. "Hezbollah's leaders made it clear that they are in a new stage of their war with Israel, and definitely the tools will be changed in this new phase," she said.