The Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon has a substantial stockpile of weapons, which is mainly supported by Iranian financing and cooperative technological weapons development.
On Tuesday, Israel’s military executed a targeted strike, resulting in the death of a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, following a lethal attack on a children’s soccer field in Israel’s Golan Heights on Saturday. U.S. and Israeli officials indicated that all evidence pointed to the Lebanon-based terror group, despite Hezbollah’s denials.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) further stated that the rocket used in the attack was an Iranian-manufactured Falaq-1, equipped with a warhead exceeding 100 pounds of explosives.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site where a Hezbollah rocket attack killed 12 Israeli youths in Majdal Shams on Saturday.
(Photo by Koby Gideon / Government Press Office)
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However, according to security experts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), the Falaq-1 represents only a fraction of Hezbollah’s considerable military cache available for such attacks.
Hezbollah purportedly maintains around 40,000 fighters and is estimated to have approximately “150,000 mortars, unguided short- to long-range rockets, unguided short-range ballistic missiles, and a smaller number of intermediate-range unguided Scud-B/C/D ballistic missiles.”
Similar to the rocket that struck the children’s soccer field, Hezbollah allegedly possesses between 40,000 and 80,000 short-range rockets capable of flooding northern Israel with fire.
Hezbollah fighters conduct a training exercise in Aaramta village, southern Lebanon, in May 2023.
(AP/Hassan Ammar)
Moreover, due to Iranian support in weaponry development, the organization can strike deeper within Israeli territory.
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“When Hezbollah first emerged as a rocket threat in 1983, one of the IDF’s primary goals was to push the group 40 kilometers away from the border,” reported the FDD in their publication “Analysis: A greatly expanded arsenal means this is not the Hezbollah of 2006.” “Hezbollah’s improved medium and long-range firing capabilities indicate that Israel can’t solely rely on strategies to push the group north beyond its arsenal’s range.”
“The IDF would need to drive Hezbollah’s forces north of Tripoli to curb its reach into Israel,” the report continued.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised address during Quds Day commemoration in Beirut’s southern suburb on April 5, 2024.
(Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
Hezbollah reportedly utilizes a comprehensive network of underground facilities to store its weaponry, situated beneath or in proximity to populated areas in southern Lebanon, Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley, an area near the Lebanese-Syrian border.
“This situation presents significant challenges for the Israel Defense Forces and highlights Israel’s need for adequate munitions to defend its citizens and to effectively counter Hezbollah in a potential major conflict that may be imminent,” the report concluded.
Following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which instigated Israel’s retaliatory actions in Gaza, assaults by Islamic militant groups against Israel have surged—Hezbollah alone has conducted nearly 3,000 attacks.
An arch bearing images of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s spiritual leader Ali Khamenei decorates a street in southern Beirut on Jan. 16, 2011.
(ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Increased civilian casualties in Gaza have led the international community to urge Israel to establish a ceasefire and mitigate further escalations in the region.
A spokesperson for the State Department stated on Tuesday that, despite rising tensions in the Middle East, officials do not consider “full-scale war to be inevitable.”
“This is the reason we remain focused on diplomatic efforts,” Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.
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People inspecting damaged vehicles in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. An Israeli airstrike targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold south of Beirut, causing significant damage, according to a Hezbollah official and the group’s television station.
(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Nevertheless, Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor for FDD who previously served on the White House National Security Council during the Trump administration and has been sanctioned by Iran, contended that a war may be “inevitable.”
“However, it may not happen today,” he remarked. “Hezbollah possesses 200,000 rockets, missiles, and drones aimed at Israel, poised to inflict considerable devastation on Tehran’s commands – possibly when Israel attempts to neutralize Iran’s nuclear program.”
“No democracy can coexist with such a threat looming at its border,” he cautioned.
