Prominent Lebanese lawmaker and leader of the country's Druze community, Walid Jumblatt on Tuesday blasted Hizballah preparations for another war with Israel.

Hizballah is acting on behalf of the interests of Iran and Syria, charged Jumblatt in remarks carried by Lebanon's Al-Mustakbal daily newspaper. He sharply criticized Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah's constant public boasting about how his group has fully rearmed since last summer's war and can now strike any point in Israel.

Despite the escalating rhetoric and the uneasiness of more moderate political figures in Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he remains convinced there will be no violent confrontation with Hizballah and Syria in the near future.

“I truly believe that the coming summer and the following autumn will not be too hot. There is no room for exaggerating and creating an atmosphere that we are on the eve of war,” Olmert was quoted by The Associated Press as telling a group of graduating university students in Jerusalem.

Olmert maintained that Israel is more than capable of decisively defeating its enemies, which his government failed to do in its last encounter with Hizballah.