Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah,
announced that his terrorist group is capable of striking any target in neighboring Israel. Nasrallah added that "the days when we fled and they did not are over".
"Today we are not only able to hit Tel Aviv as a city but, God willing, we are able to hit specific targets in Tel Aviv and anywhere in occupied Palestine," Nasrallah stated in a televised address. "For every building destroyed in Dahiya, a building will be destroyed in Tel Aviv."
Nasrallah's comments came amid
rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah's main benefactor, Iran. Due to the fact that Hezbollah has been a long-time proxy for Iran and because Israel believes Iran’s nuclear enrichment will lead to the development of an atomic bomb, Israel has warned that a strike on Tehran may be initiated.
A recent
report quotes a senior military official in Israel’s northern command explaining that even if Hezbollah is reluctant to engage in another war with Israel, Iran would be the one making that decision, one way or the other. The official said that should Israel make good on its threat to attack, Iran would in turn give the nod to Hezbollah. The official elaborated, adding that this time, the conflict would proceed at a "much faster" pace than did the conflict in 2008 (Second Lebanon War).
Indeed, that war lasted thirty-four days, and resulted in a Hezbollah amazed by the skill demonstrated by Israel's air-force, particularly at the war's onset, when it decimated Hezbollah’s long-range rocket launchers in Beirut.
Nevertheless, in the war's
aftermath,
Hezbollah still remained in control of southern Lebanon. And the UNIFIL's bolstered efforts in the area were in vain as Hezbollah has
been able to not only increase its stronghold over the South, but its power over Lebanon as a whole.
Since then, they've been busy.
Hezbollah continues to
import Iranian missiles, rockets and other weapons via Syria. They now boast an arsenal of over 50,000 rockets and missiles that presumably can reach any part of Israel.
The Jerusalem Post
covered the list of weapons at Hezbollah's disposal. And the Washington Post published declassified maps, released by Israel, that show part of Hezbollah's
network of military facilities in southern Lebanon.
Though Hezbollah has the means, according the the
Jerusalem
Post, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander has given the order that they are not to attack, for fear it could garner sympathy for
Israel. "Today, the Zionist regime is in total isolation and is facing a serious legitimacy crisis," Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani said. "Any attack would depict them as victims and us as unjust aggressors, which would mobilize the public sympathy for them. This would harm us."
Despite the fact that the Revolutionary Guards now deny having issued that directive, describing it as a "Zionist lie". Ali Alfoneh, writing for the American Enterprise Institute blog,
said
that the report was originally seen on the website of Botia News, which is a regional outlet, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. Alfoneh said that it was also picked up by other news publications affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.
In any event, should a conflict occur, it would be a brief one, opines a senior military officer in Israel's northern command. The
officer said that it would follow a much shorter course than did the 34-day war in 2006. Senior military officials
argue that Nasrallah is actually reluctant to engage in another war with Israel and would, as previously stated, attack only upon an order from Tehran.
The senior official also indicated that, "the biggest spending of Iran in 30 years has been on the nuclear program, and Hezbollah is the second." He went on to add that Tehran intends to create "Iranian footprints near the border with Israel. If something would happen in Iran, it's a tool that they can use in all kinds of scenarios," he said.
A couple of other scenarios which could lead to a clash between Israel and Hezbollah include the transfer of chemical weapons from Syria to Hezbollah or attacks on Israeli's abroad.
Significantly, the officer additionally
addressed
Hezbollah's positioning of weapons throughout civilian areas in approximately one hundred towns and villages, running along the Lebanese border. "In the villages there are three-story houses: on one floor there are rockets, then there is a family on the next floor, then a (military)
headquarters then another family. The people that live there are human shields," he said. "Every Shiite village has become such a compound. The great challenge will be to deal with all these compounds."
According to
Jihad
Watch, Israeli Intelligence estimates that one in every ten houses in south Lebanon serves as a missile storage facility or a launch pad for destructive devices against the Jewish state, Israel's chief of military intelligence, Gen. Aviv Kochavi, warned Thursday at a security conference. "One in every 10 houses in south Lebanon is a storage facility for missiles or rockets or a launch pad for devices that are increasingly accurate and destructive," AFP quoted Kochavi as saying.
And, this is
not
the first time that a statement such as this has come out of Israel. In the midst of the 2008 July-August war between Lebanon and Israel, it was conveyed that Hezbollah was making use of residences in southern Lebanon for the purpose of launching assaults against the IDF.
To prepare for a potential conflict, Israel has recently completed a
major military exercise. Ground forces, using tanks, were trained in rivers and in other bodies of water, that are difficult to navigate. The training involved the neutralizing of missile threats deep within enemy territory. Tanks, combat engineers and a variety of elite commando units participated in the day and night exercise. It was reportedly the
largest of its kind in 20 years and took place at the River Jordan, according to Col. Enav Shalev, speaking on an Army Radio security program.
This latest
exercise was carried out against a backdrop of escalating friction in the region. Iran recently threatened that foreign military intervention against its ally President Bashar Assad in Syria would result in missile strikes targeting Israel. Then too, Tehran has repeatedly warned that any attempt to strike its nuclear program would also prompt missile attacks on the Jewish state.
The
Times
of Israel Reports, Shalev said the latest exercise was focused on the kinds of operations the IDF might have to carry out in combating missile threats in enemy territory. He said Israel had an array of defensive systems, including the Iron Dome missile defense system that is deployed to protect southern Israel from missile fire from Gaza. But thwarting enemy missile threats ultimately required sending ground forces deep into the enemy territory from which missiles were launched, he said.
Asked if such major ground force exercises were still really necessary in an era where Israel has been grappling with missile threats to the homefront, Shalev replied, "Absolutely." Asked why the exercise had been carried out now, he referred to the current "complex security environment" in which Israel finds itself and said that "anyone with eyes in their head can see why it was necessary." Threats against Israel, he said, "are not decreasing. They are increasing."
"Think how many rivers and streams there in the countries where we are supposed to prepare on the operational level," Shalev said. "My brigade, like others, is supposed to be able to go very far, very deep, to carry out its activities."
It would be a mistake to believe, however, that Hezbollah poses the biggest threat to Israel, at this time. Hamas boasts an armed force to rival that of Hezbollah. This is according to
Shin Bet
security services.
"Hamas has military capabilities almost of a state," a spokesman quoted Yoram Cohen as saying while addressing the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense. "Some of its military capabilities are even better than Hezbollah's", he said.
The spokesman went on to say that the terrorist group's armory has expanded and includes advanced weaponry (such as shoulder-fired missiles) which was smuggled into the coastal territory from Libya, following the fall of Moamer Qaddafi. Hamas, according to Cohen, is also utilizing computerized lathes in order to produce rockets of ranges from four to forty kilometers (twenty-five miles). Currently, Hamas is in possession of 8,000 rockets. As is the case with Hezbollah, Hamas also receives support from Iran.
As has always been the case, Israel must remain vigilant as it continues its existence in a region surrounded by those whose goal it is to perpetrate Israel's demise.
