Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has raised its alert level to maximum, “for fear of attempts by Israel to drag Lebanon and Syria into an escalation of a state less than war but more than an operation,” reported Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Saturday.

Officials told the Kuwaiti paper they were concerned Israel would escalate the situation because of last month’s nuclear accord reached between Iran and the P5+1 world powers, which Israel argues is very dangerous. They expressed their belief that Jerusalem feels “its situation is critical and will soon be tested.”

The new alert level will help Hezbollah prepare for a possible war situation, similar to the Second Lebanon War, taking into account the potential it could become a wider war, as well.

The decision comes in response to a recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Syria. Rockets were fired last week from the Syrian Golan Heights into the Galilee for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Four rockets were directed at Israel, who responded by bombing Syrian targets and wiping out the terror cell it claimed was responsible, well within Syrian territory.

A senior IDF officer said the attack was carried out by aircraft. “We followed the cell and it was attacked at a distance of 10 to 15 kilometers from the border in an area in the total control of the Syrian army,” said the military source. He estimated that it was an “Islamic Jihad cell controlled by Iran.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed “deep concern” Saturday night, “concerning flagrant violations of the disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.”

Ban’s office wrote, “The UN Secretary General condemns all violations and calls on both parties to refrain from actions that endanger the cease-fire between Israel and Syria and undermine stability in the region.” He added that “the parties must show maximum restraint to prevent an escalation.”