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And that’s ringing alarm bells among Israelis.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite group, an old enemy of Israel, which came out openly in support of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad almost two years ago. Both Assad and Hezbollah are allies of Iran, another Israeli enemy.

Hezbollah is “fighting on multiple fronts,” explains Nicholas Blanford, Beirut correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, and author of ‘Warriors of God,’ a military history of Hezbollah. But he says Israel’s concern is focussed on one particular area — “the region [of Syria] adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.”

“The Iranians and Hezbollah, and various other Iranian allies — Shia paramilitary groups from Iraq and even Afghanistan — are waging an offensive in southern Syria against the rebel forces there. But that’s going to put them face-to-face with Israeli troops on the Golan, which is a prospect that has filled the Israelis with some alarm.”

via Hezbollah’s gains in Syria have triggered concerns in Israel | Public Radio International.

The Golan Heights are THE dominant terrain feature in Israel. It’s unlikely Hezbollah can force them, but on the other hand, they can make continued possession of them expensive and painful. Israel cannot strategically afford to abandon them. Israel will find itself either having to absorb casualties from Hezbollah attacks, or launch an attack from the Heights against well prepared defensive positions to push Hezbollah back. Neither is a particularly attractive prospect.