Lebanon tensions have Hezbollah wondering: Will Israel attack?

On either side of the border over the last few weeks, Lebanon and Israel have been engaged in a war of words amid rising tensions.

While the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah has taken an aggressive stance toward what it has termed Israeli "threats," the movement is nevertheless debating amongst itself: Will Israel attack?

The Lebanese news agency reported on Tuesday that the matter has divided Hezbollah.

On the one side, there are those ready to liken the current situation to that which transpired on the eve of the first Lebanon War in 1982, just prior to the Israeli invasion.

A months-long cease-fire had been underway then between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, during which Israel took the opportunity to prepare itself for a major operation.

On the other side, some Hezbollah sources have called Israel's declarations a bluff - not preparation for war - designed to underline the tension in Lebanon as Beirut scrambles to create a government under prime minister-designate Said Hariri.

According to the report, Hezbollah is inclined toward preparations in accordance with the first scenario, and has thus taken an official stance of high alert for a possible confrontation with Israel.

Hezbollah is concerned that Israel is willing to war over even the "simplest" of provocations, such as its declarations that the militant group is plotting attacks on Israeli targets abroad.

According to the Lebanese news Web site, Hezbollah has taken this assessment from the experience of the first Lebanon war.

While Israel has attributed its entry in Lebanon then to its desire to stop attacks on the north, Hezbollah believes that the war began after the attempted assassination of its envoy to London, Shlomo Argov.

Hezbollah has also claimed that any confrontation in Israel would be proof of Israeli attempts to shuffle the deck, as it were, in the eyes in the world - meaning, to lower American pressure on Israel amidst talk of resuming the peace process.

Those within Hezbollah who prefer to take the second stance - that Israel is merely bluffing - have said Israel would never embark on an all-out operation against Lebanon without clear international approval, particularly from the U.S.