Israeli war minister Ehud Barak claims the regime has learnt many lessons from the Lebanon war to stand against Hezbollah's great power.

"We have many lessons to learn from the Second Lebanon War, which we will hopefully implement in IDF training," he said.

Israel has experienced "severe failures and faults" during a 33-day war against Hezbollah in summer 2006, the recently published Winograd Report revealed, making the war a total failure for the regime.

Barak also claimed that "Hezbollah is getting stronger, but so is Israel", adding that "I would suggest that no one of the other side of the border mess with Israel, for their own good".

He alleged that "Hezbollah, lurking on the other side of the border, is wary of firing at Israel at the moment, but continues to plot various schemes throughout the entire northern front".

Tension is high amid speculations that Hezbollah might deal a blow to the regime in retaliation for the assassination in Damascus of its top commander Imad Mugniyah.

Israel has been on high alert following the end of a 40-day mourning period for Mugniyah, having formerly threatened Lebanon to wage another war if Hezbollah retaliates for the killing of Mugniayah.

SB/RE