"I understand what it means to put my kids two kilometres from the frontline."

Chris Hughes speaks to the Lieutenant colonel poised to attack Hezbollah on the ground if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to go ahead with war in Lebanon

Hello and welcome to Hostile World with Chris Hughes, a weekly newsletter about the world of defence and geopolitics. You can subscribe here and follow me on Twitter @defencechris. Thank you!

IDF Lieutenant Colonel (Res) Dothan Razili

This week we learnt that conflict in the Middle East is nowhere near coming to an end, even as mediators try to thrash out a peace deal between Israel and Hamas over war in Gaza. 

It is likely that the war in Gaza will continue for weeks, possibly months and reconstruction of the Strip is probably years away from improving the lives of Palestinians who remain.

And unfortunately all-out war between Israel and Lebanon is now a near certainty and both sides are preparing to wage it when the time comes, in the coming weeks.

Israeli special forces and regular troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers have for months been gathering in secret close to the Lebanon border.

Vast hospital complexes have been prepared by Israel, one of them a 50ft deep underground converted car park near Haifa, fitted with a huge blood bank.

From there motorcycle medics will be sent during an emergency to provide first aid at the scene of any missile strike, with a five minute response time guaranteed.