News summary
- Hezbollah, operating in Lebanon, has fired a new and powerful rocket into Israeli territory.
- The IDF had previously bombed two terrorist cells and one of the group’s observation posts.
- Clashes intensified days after the organization’s leader broke his silence.
Hezbollah fires powerful new rocket in Israel Portal November 4, 2023
Hezbollah, operating in Lebanon, fired a new and powerful rocket into Israeli territory on Saturday (4) after the Israeli army bombed two terrorist cells and an observation post of the extremist organization. Israel’s attack on Hezbollah It was a response to Lebanon’s shootings at the Jewish state. The escalation of tensions between the parties comes days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah broke his silence on the war.
On Friday (3), in a speech lasting about two hours attended by thousands of people in the capital Beirut, Nasrallah praised the group’s military actions on the IsraelLebanon border and boasted that he had diverted the group’s efforts from Israel The army’s war against Hamas. In his most worrying statement, he declared that “all options are there” and that Hezbollah could “take them over at any time.”
“Some claim that Hezbollah is on the verge of entering the fight. I say: We have been involved in this fight since October 8,” he said. “Some want Hezbollah to wage an allout war. But I can say that what is happening now on the IsraelLebanon border is significant and does not mean the end.”
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Hezbollah and Lebanon were at war once before, in 2006, and the consequences were catastrophic. In July of that year, the terror group captured Israeli fighters at the border, triggering a massive military response from Israel. The conflict lasted 34 days and resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 Lebanese citizens and 165 Israelis.
Neither side ultimately won the war, but Lebanese civilians were clearly the losers. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Israel destroyed or damaged around 30,000 houses, 109 bridges and 78 medical facilities. Today, 17 years after the war, Hezbollah has significantly improved its military capabilities, but that does not mean the group is ready for war.
What is Hezbollah’s military power?
According to Professor Nicholas Blanford, a Hezbollah expert at the Atlantic Council, in an interview with Al Jazeera, Hezbollah currently has at least 60,000 fighters, including fulltime fighters and reservists. The company has also increased its missile arsenal from 14,000 in 2006 to around 150,000 now.
Blanford said that in addition to shortrange missiles, Hezbollah has Iranian precisionguided missiles with a range of 300 km. He added that the group’s “special forces” are also trained to invade Israel in the event of war.
Randa Slim, director of the Conflict and Resolutions Program at the Middle East Institute, also told Al Jazeera that the war in Syria where Hezbollah intervened alongside President Bashar alAssad had allowed the group to improve its fighting capabilities . For them, the group gained “new capabilities in urban warfare and intelligence.” Its intelligence systems have also been “significantly improved.”