BEIRUT, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes are carrying out intensive flights over the western sector in southern Lebanon, pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV reported Thursday.

The Lebanese army is searching the area where the Katyusha rockets were launched on Thursday morning against Israel, while UN troops intensified patrols in southern Lebanon.

Schools in southern Lebanese towns bordering Israel were closed.

"If the resistance is broken, it means we face a new regional situation," he told Reuters. "This will lead to dangerous developments."

Hezbollah and Iran both view Hamas as the "little brother of the regional alliance they are a part of," added Jonathan Spyer, analyst at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center think-tank near Tel Aviv.

If it were seen to be on the verge of defeat, "then there's a real possibility of Hezbollah getting into the fray," he said.

Oussama Safa of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies described the Gaza campaign as an "Iranian-Israeli duel."

"The Israelis entered this having a score 1-0 to the Iranians after 2006. They are endeavoring to make it 1-1. If they succeed, I don't think the Iranians will sit still. They will have to do something," he said. "Depending on the nature of the results of Gaza, it might be sooner than we think."

"ALL OPTIONS ARE OPEN"

Source: Reuters

BEIRUT, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The commander of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon called for "maximum restraint" in Lebanon and Israel following a rocket attack on the Jewish state from south Lebanon, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force said. The peacekeepers, known as UNIFIL, had taken immediate steps to identify the perpetrators and deployed additional troops, the spokesman said. The Lebanese army had also deployed extra troops, he said.

Lebanon govt criticises rocket attack into Israel

BEIRUT, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Lebanese government criticised a rocket attack from south Lebanon into Israel on Thursday, saying it was a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that halted a 2006 war between Hezbollah and the Jewish state.

Information Minister Tareq Mitri said he did not believe the political and military group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, was behind the attack.

"Hezbollah assured the Lebanese government that it remains engaged in preserving the stability in Lebanon and respects Security Council resolution 1701," the head of Mitri's office, Toufic Yannieh, quoted the minister as saying.

Originally posted by theresult

Oh and the USA will be happy, but only when iran join in syria has no oil