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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Julian Borger in Jerusalem

Israel and Hezbollah have good reason to avoid war – but it remains possible

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Zibqin in southern Lebanon
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Zibqin in southern Lebanon on Sunday, amid escalating cross-border tensions. Photograph: Kawnat Haju/AFP/Getty Images

If Israel and Hezbollah wanted an all-out war it would have happened a long time ago. Each side would welcome the destruction of the other, but the time has not been right so far for either of them to plunge into a full-scale conflict.

The intense exchange of hostilities across the Israel-Lebanese border on Sunday morning once more took the parties to brink of such a war, but once again they paused and pulled back.

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