However, Aviv Kochavi’s proposal was reportedly rejected by the Israeli military, which preferred to concentrate on curbing Tehran’s alleged entrenchment in the country as well as the transfer of advanced weaponry to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah.
Major General Aviv Kochavi, incoming Chief of Staff for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), once planned to have Syrian President Bashar Assad killed for his support for Hezbollah, according to the UK-based Saudi newspaper Elaph as reported by the Jerusalem Post.
Israel and Hezbollah last clashed in 2006, with Israeli forces invading Lebanon after the Shia militant group kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.The conflict, which lasted 34 days and claimed the lives of over 1,300 people, was halted by a UN-brokered ceasefire. Lebanese-Israeli relations have remained poor for many decades, with tensions escalating recently amid Tel Aviv’s suspicions that Hezbollah was being used by Iran to wage a proxy war on Israel.