(TPS) Israeli media reported Sunday that the IDF is expected to start construction of a wall on the Israeli-Lebanese border within the next month. The initial stage of the wall will be built from Rosh Hanikra, at the northwest corner of Israel, running around 12 kilometers east to Hanita and from Misgav Am to Metula.

The wall, the tender for which was published over a year ago, comes in response to fears that Hezbollah will stage a ground invasion of northern Israel and attempt to take over Israeli communities along the border. The barrier is expected to eventually run the entire 80 kilometers from Rosh Hanikra on the coast to Har Dov and the Hermon Mountain range in the east.

The report quoted security sources as saying that Hezbollah may try to disrupt the works by organizing demonstrations on the grounds protesting that the barrier does not comply with the international border, known as the Blue Line, and that they could even respond with sniper fire. They added, however, that Hezbollah is not interested in an all-out conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006, but the Lebanese border has remained quiet ever since. But Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot recently called Hezbollah Israel’s “top priority” at an event marking the 11th anniversary of the war, although the Israeli intelligence community believes the northern border will remain quiet as long as Hezbollah remains embroiled in the Syrian civil war.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech last week that the next war with Israel could see “hundreds of thousands of fighters from all over the Arab and Islamic world” taking part.