- Hezbollah has lost nearly 50 fighters in the last three weeks
- Israeli drone strikes blamed for high death toll – sources
- Hezbollah showcases its surface-to-air missile capability
- Lebanese group tries to contain clashes – sources
BEIRUT, Oct 30 (Portal) – After dozens of Hezbollah fighters were killed in three weeks of border clashes with Israel, the Lebanese group is working to stem its losses as it prepares for the possibility of a protracted conflict, according to three sources familiar with it report thinking said.
The Iran-backed group has lost 47 fighters to Israeli attacks on the Lebanese border since its Palestinian ally Hamas and Israel went to war on October 7 – about a fifth of the number lost in an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 was killed.
After killing most of its fighters in Israeli drone strikes, Hezbollah has showcased its surface-to-air missile detection capability for the first time, saying on Sunday it had shot down an Israeli drone. The missiles are part of an increasingly powerful arsenal.
The Israeli military has not commented on the drone incident reported on Sunday. But Israel said on Saturday it had stopped a surface-to-air missile fired by Lebanon at one of its drones and responded with an attack on the launch site.
A source familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking told Portal that the use of anti-aircraft missiles was one of several steps by the Shiite Muslim group to stem its losses and counter Israeli drones that have shot down its fighters in rocky terrain and olive groves along the border.
Hezbollah has “taken precautions to reduce the number of martyrs,” the source said, without giving further details.
Since the beginning of the Hamas-Israel war, Hezbollah’s attacks have been aimed at containing clashes in the border zone, even as it has indicated readiness for all-out war if necessary, sources familiar with its thinking say.
Israel, which is waging a war in the Gaza Strip that it says is aimed at destroying Hamas, has said it has no interest in a conflict on its northern border with Lebanon, where it says seven of its soldiers have been killed so far.
“I hope we manage to maintain silence on this front,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at a briefing, adding that he believed Israel’s strong defense forces and its actions in Gaza had so far deterred Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would wreak havoc in Lebanon if war broke out.
AWESOME POWER
Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian ally in Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance,” has long said it has expanded its arsenal since 2006 and warned Israel that its forces pose a greater threat than before. Its arsenal is said to now include drones and missiles capable of hitting any part of Israel.
In border conflicts since October 7, both Hamas, which is also active in Lebanon, and the Lebanese Sunni Islamist faction Jama’a Islamiya have fired rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel.
Hezbollah itself has refrained from firing rockets such as unguided Katyushas and other missiles that can penetrate deep into Israeli territory, a move that could lead to escalation.
Instead, its fighters fired at visible targets across the border with Israel, using weapons such as guided Kornet anti-tank missiles, a weapon the group used extensively in 2006, the three sources said.
Hezbollah’s television channel, Al-Manar, has regularly played footage of the recent clashes, which it said were attacks on Israeli military installations and positions visible across the border.
While Hezbollah’s previous tactics have helped contain the conflict, the attacks require its fighters to be close to the border, making them more vulnerable to the Israeli military.
The sources said some fighters also underestimated the threat posed by drones after years of fighting in Syria, where they fought insurgent groups using equipment unmatched by the Israeli military. Hezbollah played a crucial role in helping President Bashar al-Assad repel Syrian insurgents.
“The technical superiority of Israeli drones makes Hezbollah pay the price for this number of fighters,” said Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of the Lebanese newspaper Annahar, referring to Hezbollah’s high death toll.
CONFLICT RESOLVED TO FAR
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah remained largely contained to a narrow strip of land along the border, generally within three to four kilometers of the border.
However, Israeli shelling has increased in recent days, according to security sources in Lebanon. They said that included an attack on Saturday on Jabal Safi, a mountainous area about 25 km (15 miles) from the border.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the attack on Jabal Safi. Hezbollah has also not commented on reports of this attack. The Israeli army said it had responded to sources of fire in Lebanon.
Hezbollah lost 263 fighters in the 2006 war when Israel attacked sites across Lebanon during a conflict that lasted more than a month. The war broke out after Hezbollah launched an attack on Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah’s death toll, which this time stands at 47 in a relatively limited conflict, has shocked the group’s supporters. The group’s al-Manar television channel has broadcast daily funerals of fallen fighters, who were buried with military honors and whose coffins were covered with the group’s yellow and green flag.
Hezbollah last week released a handwritten letter from its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to the media that said the fallen fighters should be called “martyrs on the road to Jerusalem.”
Reporting by Laila Bassam and Tom Perry in Beirut; Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Maytaal Angel in Jerusalem; writing by Tom Perry; Edited by Edmund Blair
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