KIBBUTZ HANITA, Israel—Drizzle covered the forest. Dense mist rolled through the hills. Israeli 155mm artillery shells whistled close overhead, replying to the crunch of a mortar round fired by nearby Hezbollah.

       “It’s quieter than usual," said Lt. Col. Dotan Razili of the Israeli army, sheltering from the rain in this rural community 300 yards from the Lebanese border. “It makes me suspicious."

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