Israeli army chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, has been reported as saying that a conflict in the region is likely in the near future.

During an officers' training course graduation ceremony, Ashkenazi said that the Israel army must be ready for any type of conflict.

"I can't promise that we will not face such a test in the immediate future," he said.

The chief of staff confessed that although the Zionist regime is on the eve of the 60th anniversary of its foundation but the regime has not found tranquility.

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Zionist prime minister Ehud Olmert also addressed the ceremony, saying that the lessons of the Lebanon 33-day war are being implemented at all levels of the army chain of command.

Tensions have been high in the region since last week's assassination of Hezbollah's senior commander, Imad Mugniyah, who had been a target of assassination by the Zionists for 20 years.

Hezbollah has blamed the Zionist regime for the assassination. Some Israeli analysts had earlier hinted that the assassination plot was hatched by Mossad, blaming the Israeli spy agency for its ill-measured act.