Is Hezbollah strong enough to fight Israel?
Their engagement in Syria has further bolstered their battle credentials.
Hezbollah, a fighter group from Lebanon, and Israel have traded blows before.
In 2006, Hezbollah captured Israeli fighters on its borders, triggering a military response.
In 34 days of a hail of gunfire and rockets, 1,100 Lebanese nationals and 165 Israelis died.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Although no one was a winner, there were plenty of those who lost: the civilians.
But 17 years later, with another war threatening to break out between the two, there are a few key differences.
Both sides are much stronger than they last met.
"I think Hezbollah today has the ability to inflict the greatest damage on Israel [since the Jewish state was established] in 1948," Blanford told Al Jazeera.
According to his estimates, Hezbollah currently has around 60,000 fighters. They also have a stock of missiles, mostly short-range, which has grown from 14,000 to 150,000.
The group has also apparently trained a special forces unit to infiltrate Israel in case a war does break out.
Their engagement in Syria has further bolstered their battle credentials.
In comparison, Israel has 169,500 active personnel and 465,000 reserve personnel.
The country also boasts 1,200 artillery units; this includes 300 MLRS, or multiple launch rocket systems, including 300 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and smart bombs.
These are aside from their air and navy forces.
Now, although an Israel-Hezbollah war is unlikely, with both sides expected to exercise restraint, tensions are growing along the border.
Both sides have fired missiles at each other in border skirmishes.
With Israel already engaged with Hamas, however, questions remain how much of their forces they can concentrate on Hezbollah.
