Security and political sources told the Israeli press Sept. 8 that the extraction of natural gas from the undersea Karish gas field would not be launched this month, but rather in mid-October. The reason for the delay is unclear at present. Energy Minister Karin Elharar said Sept. 8 that the possible delay was due to the complexity of installation operations. While the reason for the delay seems to be technical, it nonetheless dissipates to some extent tensions that have been building up in recent weeks, following the threats of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah against Israeli drilling.

Nasrallah’s latest public threat came Aug. 9, when the leader of Hezbollah warned the group would not sit idly by if Israel continued using the natural gas it had discovered near the maritime border with Lebanon.

Israel is not taking lightly these threats. Still, after so many years with Nasrallah as a rival, Israel’s take on the Hezbollah leader is lucid and pragmatic.

“If there is one leader for whose health and longevity we should be praying three times a day, it is Nasrallah,” a senior Israeli intelligence source told Al-Monitor earlier this year in discussing Israel’s assessment of the Hezbollah leader who now marks 30 years in power.