Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warns war in Syria will escalate

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned Syrian's civil war may be about to escalate and enter a new phase.

On video link from his secure bunker, for fear of Israeli assassination, he addressed supporters in the Bekaa Valley ahead of Lebanese elections.

Voters are going to the polls there for the first time in nine years, with the small Mediterranean country having been under the leadership of Prime Minister Saad Hariri since December 2016.

He resigned in November, accusing Iran and Hezbollah of taking over his country and destabilising the broader region, but went back on that decision just a month later.

Now, ahead of his potential re-election, Nasrallah has warned that the proxy war being fought in neighbouring Syria could be replaced by a bigger war fought by larger powers.

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His warning coincides with mounting concern about the risk of wider war in the Middle East.

Tensions between Israel and Iran are causing the biggest worry.

Iran has fought in Syria supporting its leader, Bashar al Assad, and is now entrenched there in a way Israel says is unacceptable.

Over the weekend, Israeli airstrikes targeted alleged Iranian missiles bound for Syria, causing huge explosions near Hama.

In February, an Israeli fighter jet was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire after Israeli airstrikes against an alleged Iranian base in Syria, which were prompted by an Iranian drone entering Israel airspace.

Analyst Sami Nader told Sky News there is a greater likelihood than there has been for some time of a broader regional conflict erupting.

"Any escalation, any military confrontation could lead to a war that would be costly for everyone," he explained.

"Why? Because the big players are directly involved and this would or may lead to a world war."

Lebanon is used to the threat of war and has been plagued by conflict, most recently a bloody month-long war with Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah parliamentary candidate Ibrahim Moussawi told Sky News: 'With Trump and Netanyahu there nobody knows what kind of logic they base their arguments on," he said.

"You can't predict everything but I think we are prepared for the worst scenarios in this place because we are used to it."

These are uncertain times in what is always an uncertain region.

What is certain is that Hezbollah is not the only group preparing for the worst-case scenario.