By Romana Rubeo 
The report also compared Hezbollah’s current military capabilities to those it displayed during the 2006 war with Israel.
A report published on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal outlined Hezbollah’s formidable military capabilities and warned of the potentially severe consequences Israel could face if it engages in a full-scale war with the Lebanese group.
According to the WSJ, recent Israeli airstrikes and remote-controlled explosions demonstrated Israel’s superiority in intelligence and technology. However, if an all-out war broke out, the conflict dynamics could rapidly shift since Israel would face “strategic disadvantages.”
“Hezbollah wouldn’t seek to win a war with Israel in a conventional sense. Rather, it would aim to mire Israeli forces in a war of attrition, much as Hamas, a smaller and less well-armed group, has managed to survive Israel’s 11-month assault on Gaza,” the WSJ stated.
The report also compared Hezbollah’s current military capabilities to those it displayed during the 2006 war with Israel.
Hezbollah, which has been attacking Israeli targets for almost a year, has a large stockpile of rockets, drones, and advanced weaponry, including the Iranian-made Almas-guided anti-tank missile.
“Hezbollah is probably the world’s most heavily armed nonstate paramilitary force, with tens of thousands of troops and an extensive missile arsenal, military experts say,” the WSJ said.
“In 2006, Israeli officials estimated Hezbollah had about 12,000 rockets and missiles,” the paper said. Citing Qassem Qassir, a Lebanese analyst with knowledge of Hezbollah, it added that “the group’s stockpile had swelled to 150,000 before Oct. 7, a figure that broadly matches Israeli and Western estimates.”
Moreover, “the Almas guided antitank missile is widely thought by military analysts to be a reverse-engineered version of an Israeli missile called the Spike, which was likely captured by Hezbollah and sent to Iran in 2006.”
The report also highlighted how, in 2006, “despite its overwhelming military power, Israel reached the brink of military disaster after it launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, aiming to push Hezbollah’s forces north of the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli border.”
The paper also cited an Israeli reservist who fought in 2006 as saying that “Hezbollah of 2006 is not the Hezbollah of today”.
Ongoing Conflict
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.
In recent weeks, however, the intensity of the fighting has increased, leading to concerns that an all-out war between Hezbollah and the Israeli army is imminent.
On September 17 and 18, several wireless communication devices exploded across various areas of Lebanon, killing scores of Lebanese and wounding thousands.
On September 20, Hezbollah launched its ‘Open Account’ operation, targeting military bases across Israel.
Starting on Monday morning, Israel launched a large-scale aggression on Lebanon, killing at least 558 Lebanese civilians and injuring thousands.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.
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