HezbollahReuters/Ali HashishoHezbollah members react while carrying the coffin of Lebanon's Hezbollah soldier Abbas Hijazi, who died in an airstrike in Quneitra, during his funeral in Ghaziyeh village, south Lebanon January 21, 2015.

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Less than 48 hours after the Israeli army reportedly attacked targets in Syria on Friday-Saturday, a Syrian cell on Sunday tried to mount a terror attack against targets inside Israeli territory.
Israel fired on the cell, which was composed of Druze gunmen, scoring a direct hit as its members attempted to plant a large explosive device intended for future use against Israeli army troops or civilians moving near the border.
Contrary to initial reports, the cell was not part of Hezbollah, which has not been operating in this fashion recently. Except for a rocket attack on the Givati troops in late January, Hezbollah has been trying to avoid leaving fingerprints that would draw an Israeli response.
The fact is, however, that most of the Druze on the Syrian Golan Heights remain loyal to the regime of Bashar Assad and to the Hezbollah troops who fight for him. No distinction can be made any longer between the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, or between the Syrian army and the Druze on the one hand and Hezbollah on the other.
Hezbollah has been using Druze, Palestinians and, of course, Assad’s own troops to strike at Israeli targets. For more than a year, this has been one front where Hezbollah has been trying to take advantage of the power vacuum in the Syrian area in order to create a deterrent balance against Israel.
Even after the reported Israeli weekend attack on targets in the Qalamun Mountains, it seemed that Hezbollah would try to mount a limited response, not one that might lead to a large-scale, violent confrontation. Hezbollah has no interest in a conflict of that kind, but it wants to make it clear to Israel that there is a price to pay for what it views as crossing red lines.
Media outlets identified with Hezbollah, such as Al Mayadeen, claimed there was a further Israeli attack on Sunday night. But it seems that the source of those explosions in the hot Qalamun sector was the intensifying battles between Hezbollah and the Syrian army against Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front.

Nazrallah HezbollahSharif Karim/REUTERSLebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah makes a rare public appearance as he addresses his supporters during a rally to mark "Quds (Jerusalem) Day" in Beirut's southern suburbs July 25, 2014
While Hezbollah and the Syrian army had succeeded in cleansing the mountain strip of the radical Sunni troops in the past, Islamic State forces has managed to retake various territories in the area.
The latest reports in Lebanon say that Hezbollah is planning another “large-scale attack” in the Qalamun region — an area which, for Hassan Nasrallah’s people, is the doorway to Lebanon. It is the strip of territory through which arms are smuggled to Hezbollah, and is also a problematic route used by Sunni terrorists who wish to act against Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is why the mountain ridge is so important to Hezbollah, and the reason Hezbollah has decided to rid it of Islamic State’s presence.
Another result of the new order in the Middle East is that Lebanon, as a state, no longer exists. While it is true that the situation there is nothing like as anarchic and bloody as the situation in Syria or in Iraq, that is mainly because of Hezbollah’s troops. The place is Hezbollahland.
For months, Lebanon’s most powerful elements there have failed to appoint a new president, because of the harsh dispute between the camps. They cannot even agree on the next chief of staff of the Lebanese army.
Not that it makes any difference. Hezbollah will keep on controlling Lebanon — with or without a president.
This article originally appeared at The Times Of Israel. Copyright 2015. Follow The Times Of Israel on Twitter.