Talking to ETV current affairs show "Ringvaade," Kanik said: "The likelihood of a large-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah is high."

"This has been a concern since October 7 last year, as Hezbollah has repeatedly carried out attacks on northern Israel since that time," the ICDS chief went on.

"To live in northern Israel is quite uncomfortable. I wouldn't be surprised if these recent steps from Israel's side are primarily aimed at sowing major confusion within Hezbollah's leadership through these operations, to be followed by a more extensive military operation."

According to Kannik, speculation and fear of a large-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim group with close ties to Iran, have been ongoing for several months.

"In some ways, this fits quite well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent approach. Since October 7, he has conducted significant and decisive operations," he said, referring to the attacks carried out by another terror group, Hamas.

"The war with Hamas has been going on for almost a year now. From Netanyahu's perspective, launching a serious military strike against Hezbollah would align with his current strategy," Kannik said.

"This would also fit well with Netanyahu's idea that for him the internal political situation is also unstable. And if the war ends, then it is not certain going forward if Netanyahu will remain in office for much longer," he added.

Kannik said that Israel has the military capability to conduct a larger operation against Hezbollah, but the key question is how far Iran is willing to intervene.

The ICDS director also noted that other countries in the region are unlikely to get significantly involved, as Israel's relations with most states in the region are "satisfactory".

As to whether Israel was definitively behind the drone strike, Kannik responded that usually such types of actions are carried out on a logically cui bono basis. "And unquestionably, the Israeli state is behind it. And the foreign intelligence service, Mossad, has certainly been involved in this operation."

Kannik expressed doubt that the pager manufacturer was in actuality a Hungarian firm, as has been speculated.

"Most likely, a Hungarian firm bought the rights to produce them from a Taiwanese company. However, whether that Hungarian firm was actually the manufacturer is highly doubtful. The company's registered address is in a building where there are a couple of dozen other companies. This doesn't give the impression that this company is really operating there," he said.

"So there is still one point that I don't believe, that the producer was a Hungarian firm. I also doubt that Hezbollah would buy equipment like that from Hungary. Hungary is well-known for its strong support of Israel, making it likely that the Hungarian firm was just a front for the Taiwanese [firm]. I think that there would have been several further intermediary links involved," Kannik added.

On Tuesday, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon, injuring many members and others.

This was followed Wednesday afternoon by similar explosions in southern Lebanon and in that country's capital, Beirut, hitting hand-held radios used by Hezbollah members too.

Lebanese authorities reported that at least nine people were killed in the latter wave of blasts, which aimed to disrupt Hezbollah's communication systems, making it the deadliest single day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel nearly a year ago.

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