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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| 'Doomsday Weapons': How Hezbollah Responds to Israel | |
| 2024-09-25 | |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Artemy Sharapov [REGNUM] The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a "preemptive" offensive against the Lebanon-based Shiite organization Hezbollah. The "preemptive strikes" began on the morning of September 23. "We are striking at the military infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years," said IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, adding that the Israeli military is preparing for the next stages of the conflict, which Halevy promised to talk about later. In turn, Hezbollah representatives announced rocket attacks on an Israeli industrial complex in northern Haifa. The attack on the night of September 24 was called a response to the pager explosions that occurred in Beirut. In addition, the Shiite movement attacked Megiddo airport in northern Israel with rockets three times overnight. At the same time, Hezbollah began to strike Israeli territory on September 21, using an arsenal of long-range missiles. The targets of the attacks were military facilities of the Israeli IDF. According to the group's statement, Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 missiles were used for the shelling. Most likely, these munitions were delivered to Lebanon from Syria, military expert and author of the ImpNavigator blog Yuri Lyamin told Regnum news agency. "In fact, no one hid the fact that Syria supplies these rocket munitions to Hezbollah. They were first used back in 2006, during the Second Lebanon War. Moreover, during the civil war in Syria, government troops practically did not use them, so everything that was produced on Syrian territory went to Lebanon in case of a new war with Israel," the expert noted.
According to Israeli intelligence, the Fadi class missiles are a modification of the Kheibar-1 missiles, developed in Syria in the early 2000s based on the Chinese WS-1 missiles. Israel has repeatedly tried to stop the supply of missiles from Syria, striking Syrian military enterprises. In early September, the Israeli Air Force attacked a military facility near the city of Masyaf in the Syrian province of Hama. Presumably, Fadi missiles were being manufactured at this facility. However, Israel is not able to completely stop the supply of ammunition from Syria, Yuri Lyamin is sure. "The length of the border between Syria and Lebanon is hundreds of kilometers. Moreover, it passes through hard-to-reach mountain ranges. Israel manages to cover and destroy something, but Syria itself is large, there are places to hide missiles, there are many supply routes," the expert believes. At the same time, a supply route for more sophisticated missiles passes through Syria, heading to Lebanon from Iran, Hezbollah's main ally. TARGETS FOR STRIKES The current escalation between Hezbollah and Israel began in October 2023. The Lebanese group shelled Israeli territory in support of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian group Hamas. At first, Hezbollah limited itself to shelling Israeli territory with “salvos” of unguided rockets, which were destroyed on approach by the Iron Dome missile defense system. This exchange of pleasantries generally suits both sides, since, on the one hand, it allows for the appearance of support for the “Palestinian resistance,” and on the other, it does not escalate the conflict to a new level, since the shelling does not lead to casualties among the civilian population. At the same time, the shelling also has a strategic goal - to exhaust, if possible, the stocks of Israeli air defense/missile defense missiles. And it is quite possible that this was the task set by the group's command at an early stage of the conflict, military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky said in a commentary for the Regnum news agency. "Along the demarcation line - since there is no de facto border between Israel and Lebanon - there are probably hundreds of launchers of calibers from 80 to 122 mm hidden. They are buried in the ground, hidden in caves, camouflaged. It is quite difficult to find them. At the same time, the launch of 50-100 missiles, fired according to the principle of "whoever God sends", allows, for example, to cover the launch of a drone, which will then work on a specific target," the expert explains. In the summer of 2024, Hezbollah showed footage taken by reconnaissance drones that had penetrated the Iron Dome. The drones captured, among other things, the Israeli Navy base in Haifa, as well as a number of military installations in the northern regions of the country. They later became the target of large-caliber missile strikes. But it is difficult to assess the damage caused by the shelling. "Israeli intelligence services keep any data on rocket attacks on military targets secret, and Hezbollah likes to exaggerate its successes. So, most likely, they are causing damage to the said targets, but limited. However, this could be a test run, and the main strikes are still ahead," Mikhailovsky believes. Arab media outlets have made a similar assessment, predicting more extensive strikes on Israel and hinting at the use of ballistic missiles capable of reaching central Israel. MODERN ARSENAL Israeli intelligence agencies have repeatedly stated that Hezbollah has a large number of different types of missiles. According to the Alma Research Center, the movement has about 5,000 long- and medium-range missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of 200 kilometers, 65,000 short-range missiles (the range of destruction is from 45 to 200 kilometers) and about 145,000 artillery and small-caliber rocket munitions with a range of up to 20 kilometers. For obvious reasons, Hezbollah officials have not disclosed the size of their arsenals. However, the movement's media outlets occasionally publish footage of individual types of weapons. One of the photos published online from Hezbollah warehouses showed Mushak-200 missiles with a 600-kilogram warhead and a range of up to 200 kilometers. Presumably, these missiles are a copy of the Iranian Zelzal-2 missiles. "Iran has never hidden the fact that it supplies weapons to Hezbollah. Israel has attempted to destroy arms shipments on the supply route through Syria, for example at Syrian Air Force air bases. But here, again, it is physically impossible to intercept all the supplies, the territories are too large," notes Yuri Lyamin. The name of the missile refers to the Quran's sura "Earthquake", which describes the events of the End of the World. In other words, the name is a very specific warning to a potential enemy. Theoretically, Hezbollah may also have Zelzal-3 missiles with a range of up to 250 kilometers. And Israel Hayoum suggests that Hezbollah has Fateh-100 missiles, also known as M-600, with a range of up to 300 kilometers. In other words, Hezbollah is capable of striking most of Israel's territory, so the IDF command's concern about the "threat from the north" is well founded. ISRAEL TRIES TO CREATE A 'BUFFER ZONE' Traditionally, the main areas of Hezbollah activity are considered to be the territories of southern Lebanon, as well as part of Beirut and its suburbs, where representatives of the Shiite Muslim community live. Unable to disrupt the supply of missiles, the Israeli army plans to eliminate Hezbollah's infrastructure and the movement's main bases. Earlier, the IDF command repeatedly stated that the goal of the operation in Lebanon should be the creation of a "buffer zone" - a territory stretching 20-30 kilometers along the border between Lebanon and Israel. This is where most of Hezbollah's military facilities, underground shelters and missile arsenals are located. In this way, Israeli troops plan to secure the northern regions of the country from the threat of rocket attacks. But whether this will be successful is a big question. | |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 You Ivans, given your failure to deal with Mikola, are just jealous. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-09-25 02:07 |