Today, fears are growing that Hezbollah could declare war on Israel and lay the foundation for a larger conflict in the Middle East, prompting the IDF to put troops along the country’s northern border on “high alert.”
The terror group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, will break weeks of silence since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out in a speech today, suggesting that some apprehension could signal Hezbollah’s intention to delve deeper into the ongoing conflict.
After Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, clashes escalated on Lebanon’s southern border, particularly between Israel and Hezbollah.
The terror group, like Hamas, is backed by Iran, and clashes on Israel’s northern border are fueling fears of a wider conflagration in the ongoing war.
Cross-border attacks intensified on Thursday as Israel responded with a “major attack” after Hezbollah said it attacked 19 Israeli positions simultaneously.
Rockets also hit the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona near the border in a barrage claimed by the Lebanese part of Hamas’ armed wing.
In a statement Friday, the IDF said it was on “very high alert” along Israel’s northern border and that it would respond “to any event” in the region.
Today, fears are growing that Hezbollah is poised to declare war on Israel and lay the foundation for a larger conflict in the Middle East. Pictured: Hezbollah fighters conduct a training exercise in Aaramta village in Jezzine district, southern Lebanon, Sunday, May 21, 2023
Hezbollah fighters prepare drones for an exercise
The terror group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah (pictured, file photo), will break weeks of silence since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out in a speech today, saying some apprehension could signal Hezbollah’s intention to delve deeper into the ongoing war to enter conflict
Nasrallah’s highly anticipated speech will be broadcast at 3pm (1pm GMT) on Friday at an event in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The speech is in memory of the fighters killed in Israeli attacks. However, close attention will be paid to whether the group signals that it could move deeper into the conflict on the side of Hamas.
On the Lebanese side, more than 70 people were killed – at least 50 of them Hezbollah fighters, but also other combatants and civilians, including a Portal journalist.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), nine people died on the Israeli side – eight soldiers and one civilian.
Some analysts believe Hezbollah has little interest in becoming fully involved in a conflict that Israeli officials have threatened could devastate Lebanon.
But others say the decision rests with Iran, which leads the regional “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, which includes Hezbollah and armed groups from Syria, Iraq and Yemen, some of which have attacked Israeli and US forces in recent weeks. attacked American interests.
The Iran-terror group has been described by the Jewish state as an “axis of evil” bent on destroying Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has warned that “the region is like a powder keg” and that “anything is possible” if Israel does not stop attacking Gaza.
But Amal Saad, a Hezbollah expert at Cardiff University, said: “Hezbollah is not a proxy of Iran, it is an ally of Iran.”
“Hezbollah doesn’t need anyone’s permission to intervene.”
“Hezbollah obviously has much more experience fighting Israel than Iran – Iran has not had a direct confrontation with Israel,” Professor Saad added.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah released a letter from its fighters to Palestinian groups in Gaza, saying they had “your finger on the trigger… to support Al-Aqsa Mosque and our oppressed brothers in Palestine.”
People carry coffins of Hezbollah members Hussein Hariri, Mahmoud Darwish and Taha Hussein, who were killed in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, during their funeral in Nabatieh, Lebanon, October 27
Today, fears are growing that Hezbollah could declare war on Israel and lay the foundation for a larger conflict in the Middle East. Above, Thursday’s Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip is shown in an image taken from the Israeli side of the border
In IDF, a soldier is seen with a sniper rifle while operating in the Gaza Strip
As the war with Hamas continues, Israeli troops are deployed in the Gaza Strip
The Shiite Muslim group has mainly limited itself to attacking Israeli observation posts, military positions and vehicles near the border, as well as drones, reportedly using anti-tank missiles, guided missiles and even surface-to-air missiles.
Israel responded by bombing sites along the border, while drones targeted militants near the border.
US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has sent two aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean and warned Hezbollah and others to stay out of the conflict.
Reports in October suggested that the White House and U.S. military officials discussed the possibility of using military forces if Hezbollah joined the war.
And according to a CNN report on Thursday, the US has information that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has agreed to equip Hezbollah with a Russian-made missile defense system, with Russia’s Wagner Group contracted to deliver it.
CNN said in its report that the hardware was an SA-22 surface-to-air missile system (also known as Pantsir). It said it was not clear whether it had already been delivered.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Wagner – who has been heavily involved in fighting in Ukraine, operates in Syria and has significant interests in Africa – would make the system available to the terror group.
However, “Assad’s role has not been reported,” CNN said.
An unidentified U.S. official quoted by the Journal said Washington had not confirmed the transmission of the system. But U.S. officials are monitoring discussions between Wagner and Hezbollah, the Journal said.
Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli attack on the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City
The terror group, like Hamas, is backed by Iran, and clashes on Israel’s northern border are fueling fears of a wider conflagration in the ongoing war. Pictured: An Israeli artillery unit fires during a military exercise in the Golan Heights near the border with Lebanon on November 2
The Journal said the Pantsir system – known by NATO as the SA-22 – would be delivered to Hezbollah via Syria, where Russia supported al-Assad by entering the civil war there in 2015.
The Wagner Group, which was funded by the Russian state and has been firmly under Kremlin control since an aborted mutiny under its former leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in June, did not respond to a request for comment from Portal.
The US remains skeptical that Hezbollah will interfere in the war between Israel and Gaza.
“We have significant national security interests at play here,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“I don’t think we’ve seen any concrete signs yet that Hezbollah is ready to go full force.” So we’ll see what he has to say.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv ahead of the speech to ease tensions across the region.
Hezbollah, “Party of God” in Arabic, is a Shiite Islamist political and military organization founded in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War with the support of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Its dual political and military makeup is similar to that of Hamas, but while both groups are backed by Iran, Hezbollah has emerged as a far greater military threat.
In fact, it is said to be ten times stronger than Hamas, with 200,000 rockets, rockets and mortars in its arsenal, all ready to be fired at Israel.
While Hamas is still extremely dangerous – with tens of thousands of soldiers and extensive missile stockpiles – it has no air defense capabilities and almost no heavy armor. In contrast, Hezbollah’s military wing is extremely well equipped.
Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are seen riding motorcycles and carrying portable Chinese QM-18 air defense systems. Hezbollah has purchased Chinese technology in recent years to supplement its extensive Soviet arsenal of air defense weapons
In addition to the small arms, machine guns and rocket stocks deployed by Hamas, Hezbollah has an array of tank and air defense systems, a fleet of thousands of drones, and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles.
It also boasts of having many more fighters.
Like Hamas, Hezbollah has an extensive network of tunnels along the Lebanese-Israeli border, which serves as a strategic advantage for clandestine movements, storage and surprise attacks.
In 2021, the group claimed to have 100,000 active fighters – although the Israel Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) says the number is half that number.
According to the INSS, the group’s arsenal includes 150,000 to 200,000 rockets and missiles, including “hundreds” of precision missiles.
The vast majority of Hezbollah’s military equipment is Soviet or Iranian-made, and the group has either purchased or donated weapons and ammunition from its Iranian backers or from the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
Both Iran and Syria emerged as important sources of financial and material support and viewed Hezbollah as a strategic ally and instrument of influence in the region.
The border tensions of the past three weeks have brought back memories of Hezbollah’s devastating war with Israel in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers.
Since then, the group, which receives financial support as well as weapons and equipment from Iran, has built up its powerful arsenal.
For years, Nasrallah has boasted that his group’s weapons could penetrate deep into Israeli territory.
“Each side is carefully considering its actions and reactions to avoid a situation that spirals out of control and spreads throughout the region,” said Michael Young of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
But if Hezbollah were to fully enter the war, “the devastation in Lebanon would turn most communities, perhaps even large parts of the Shiite community,” against them, he warned last week.
Israeli army soldiers sit in the turret of a battle tank as it moves to a position in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, Nov. 1
In Lebanon, supporters and opponents of an expansion of the war are holding their breath in view of Nasrallah’s speech.
“We are waiting impatiently… We hope that he will declare war on the Israeli enemy and the Western countries that support him,” said Ahed Madi, 43, from the border town of Shebaa, speaking to the French news agency AFP.
Rabih Awad, 41, from the southern city of Rachaya Al Foukhar, said a new war between Hezbollah and Israel “would be a death knell for Lebanon,” which is struggling with a severe economic crisis.
“I am against the war of annihilation against the Palestinians in Gaza,” he said. “But the decision to go to war must be made by the Lebanese state, not by a party or a militia.”
Hezbollah’s military equipment
weapons
AK-47
M16
Role playing games
DShK (heavy machine gun)
KPV (heavy machine gun)
Tanks and APCs
T-55
T-72
Infantry fighting vehicle BMP-1
Israeli Namer/M113 (captured)
Modified civilian vehicles
Rockets and artillery
Katyusha rockets
Fateh-110
M300
Fajr-3 and Fajr-5
Zelzal-2
Anti-aircraft weapons
Strela 2 MANPAD
Strela 3 MANPAD
Igla-1 MANPAD
QW-18 MANPAD
ZU-23 (anti-aircraft guns)
ZPU (anti-aircraft guns)
Book M2
Pantsir S1
Anti-tank weapons
9M14 Malyutka
9K111 faggot
9M133 Kornet-E
UAVs
Mirsad 1
Mirsad 2
Shahed-129