What weapons does Hezbollah have against Israel?
Since the middle of the 1990s, the Lebanese Hezbollah has adopted missiles as one of its strategic deterrent tactics. Currently, in October 2023, this weapon has been enhanced to include an arsenal of around 140,000, yes, you read it properly, one hundred and forty thousand, missiles and rockets, all of which are directed against a single nation: Israel.
In contrast to the 1990s and the early 2000s, Hezbollah now has access to a wide variety of rockets. Whereas initially the attack capability was only entrusted to short-range unguided rockets of Soviet origin (Katyusha or Grad), they are now joined by tens of thousands of medium-range heavy rockets (always unguided) and roughly a thousand guided missiles that are more than capable of completing the mission given to them: to obliterate Israel's essential infrastructure. This is due to the drastic change in the mission of Hezbollah's missiles, which were previously only intended to seriously harm the nearby Jerusalem military forces and damage Israeli settlements in the Galilee. However, as of late, Israel's critical civic and military assets are the main target of the missiles fired by the Lebanese Shiite militia. The Lebanese working for the Iranians would attempt to attack Israeli airports, command posts, air defense sites, the Dimona nuclear power plant, power plants, industrial plants, gas platforms, oil terminals, ports, and so on in the event of a conflict with Hezbollah or a war between Iran and Israel.
- 80,000–90,000 for short-range Shahin-1, Falaq-2, and Falaq
- 30–40,000 medium-range and long-range heavy Katyusha rockets, some of which are capable of carrying submunitions, were fired toward Israeli communities within 30 kilometers of the Lebanon border. Fajr-3, Fajr-5, and Khaibar-1, which are normally unguided carriers and can attack targets between 70 and 90 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border, have plenty of range to reach Haifa and Hadera
- About 1000 high-precision guided ballistic missiles. Zelzal-1, Zelzal-2, and Fath-110, which pose a direct danger to the Israeli Air Force's ability to conduct operations in the event of open warfare and are capable of striking Israel's vital assets with great speed and precision.
- With a range of up to 300 km, the C-802 and P-800 Oniks (Yakhont) anti-ship missiles, NATO designation SS-N-26 Strobile, may strike both Israeli gas platforms and allied naval vessels in the Mediterranean. These carriers may also be deployed to launch cruise missiles at high-value land targets, including the Dimona nuclear power station.
While the anti-ship carriers are of Chinese and Russian design, the majority of the carriers in question are of Soviet or Iranian design. Since Israel cannot successfully intercept every launcher we have shown you, the only viable course of action in the event of a battle to save Israel irreparable harm is to destroy the launchers before they have abandoned their targets. The assistance of American military might, including its ground fighters and aircraft carrier assault groups, will be crucial in this situation. For the same reasons, we do not anticipate a ground operation in Gaza prior to the arrival of the Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its assault group in the Mediterranean. The bulk of the carriers in question are Soviet or Iranian in design, however there are anti-ship carriers of Chinese and Russian designs. The only practical course of action in the case of a war to save Israel irreversible injury is to destroy the launchers before they have given up on their objectives, since Israel is unable to successfully intercept every launcher we have shown you. In this case, the support of US military power—including its aircraft carrier assault groups and ground fighters—will be essential. We do not expect a ground action in Gaza until the aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its attack group arrive in the Mediterranean, for the same reasons.
While Hizbollah does have a lot of rockets and missiles, almost none can strike mobile armoured targets. Thus they are useless as military weapons. They cannot stop multiple IDF armoured divisions from invading Lebanon and overrunning all the launch sites.
They cannot stop the IAF from bombing or drone killing all the launch teams and sites.
They are simply terror weapons, whose effectiveness quickly wanes after the first day of the war.
Just like London in The Blitz, terror weapons only serve to make the attacked society even more determined to eliminate forever the party firing them.
If you look at the current and past conflicts you will see that despite hundreds of thousands of rockets and missiles fired at Israel, Israeli casualites are quite light, with most deaths occurring in the moment of surprise - the first 24 hours.
In the current conflict the vast majority of Israel deaths came from the infiltration, not the rockets.
Indeed in the current conflict with Hamas, their rockets and missiles are killing far more Gazans than Israelis. 25% misfire and fall on Gaza.
It is well proven in warfare that you cannot defeat a nation by bombing alone, even when they have no defences or ability to destroy the launch sites.
Israel has excellent bomb shelters (70% of apartments have internal ones), excellent missile defence (Iron Dome, David Sling, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3) and excellent ability to destroy Hizbollah launchers from the air and to invade by the ground.
Any large scale missile attack by Hizbollah will sign their death warrant and give Israel the justification to conquer southern Lebanon and annex the land to house Israel's fast growing population.
Congratulations @wolfplayzor! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 3500 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP