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US analyst: â€œIsrael-Iran covert spy games have become more dangerous nowadaysâ€

17 February 2012 11:24 (UTC +04:00)

â€œIran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah have been engaged in a hot spy-versus-spy war for years. Now it is getting hotter and threatens to produce a larger conflictâ€, he said referring that the Israeli Prime Minister linked the Shia duo to failed terror plots in Azerbaijan.

â€œIsrael has long used covert operations to kill terrorists and sabotage enemy weapons programs.

The danger of spy wars is that they can get out of hand. Not only do innocents get killed in the crossfire, the conflict can create a casus belli for a real shooting warâ€, he said adding, it is hard to keep conflict contained and it is easy to use a terror incident to justify a war.

â€œThe terror war between Israel and Iran is likely to escalate. If Israel starts a war with Iran and Lebanon, America will almost certainly be drawn in. The Obama administration has rightly been urging Israel to give sanctions and sabotage more time to work, but the dynamics are pushing for another Middle East conflict which will be very hard to containâ€, the analyst adds.