Residents of northern Israel told to stockpile food and medicine for possible all-out war with Hezbollah

Fears Israel and Hezbollah moving closer to all-out warHaifa mayor asks people to stockpile food and medicineSome residents say only war can force back HezbollahIsraeli army says it has increased readiness for war

A destroyed vehicle at the Bedouin village of Arab al-Aramshe amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Andrew MacAskill

Eli Harel was an Israeli soldier in his early 30s when he was sent into Lebanon in 2006 to battle fighters from the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah in a bloody, largely inconclusive, month-long war.

Now 50, Harel is ready to rejoin the army to fight the same group if shelling along Israel's northern border turns into a full-blown war with Iran's most powerful regional proxy. This time Israeli forces would face some of the most challenging fighting conditions imaginable, he said.