(NewsNation) — A former CIA officer who spent decades working in the Middle East believes an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon is imminent.

“The Israelis are going to go in. I can see it coming,” said Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer. He said the recent explosions of pagers and VHF radios being used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon is a logical prelude to an invasion.

“Netanyahu has promised that he’s going to go in, and I think it’s going to be a ground invasion. And it’s going to be very destructive, just as destructive as it was in Gaza,” Baer told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” on Wednesday.

Regarding the collateral damage from the booby-trapped pagers and radios that exploded this week, Baer said the alternative would have been trying to destroy Hezbollah communications with bombs, which would have produced far more civilian casualties.

But when it comes to worrying about collateral damage, “after 7 October, all rules are gone,” Baer said. “It was such a shock to Israel. The gloves are off.”

Answering Chris Cuomo’s question of whether it is wrong for Israel to set off explosives that were carried by people in public places including markets and buses, Baer was blunt.

“Everything that goes on in the Middle East is wrong. International law is gone.”

Baer also fears that a greater conflict will “cascade” and could spread violence to Iran, the Persian Gulf, “and who knows where it goes from there.”