Hezbollah is the 'X-factor' in looming Israel, Iran war with 'nation state capabilities'

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Anxiety continues to mount over the threat of a regional conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran after Tehran this week pledged to hit the Jewish state following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh late last month.

But even as Israel squares up against its greatest adversary, a potentially more lethal threat looms right on its border — Hezbollah.

"The big X factor here is Hezbollah," former spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and current senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Jonathan Conricus told Fox News Digital. "Hezbollah has significant military capabilities at their disposal.

"They have nation state capabilities," he added.

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The terrorist organization has been significantly backed by Iran for years, receiving weaponry, technological know-how and some $700 million annually, according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

But it is not only their strategic capabilities that make them such a threatening force to contend with, it is the group's proximity to Israel, explained Conricus.

Hezbollah, based along Israel’s northern border in Lebanon, has plagued Israel’s security apparatus since its founding in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which was carried out in response to a series of inter-border spats with the Palestine