Hezbollah 'now stronger than any Arab army'

By Yossi Lempkowicz
The Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz  has said that Hezbollah is now stronger than any Arab army.  The Lebanese Shiite group’s capabilities have grown substantially since the 2006 war, putting much of Israel within its reach, he told the annual international Herzliya Conference, a high-level gathering of security, political, and diplomatic leaders. 

While the threat posed by conventional Arab armies has diminished in recent years, Israel now faces highly mobile enemies like Hezbollah, skilled in asymmetric warfare and equipped with advanced weapons systems, Gantz said.  But the massive destruction Israel can inflict on Hezbollah’s assets and Lebanon’s infrastructure continues to deter Hezbollah from overt aggression against Israel.  “Bring me four or five states that have more firepower than Hezbollah: Russia, China, Israel, France, and England,” he told the conference. “What is this enormous power that they have that can cover every area of the state of Israel?”

In the past eight years, the Iran-backed group is believed to have acquired GPS-guided Syrian-manufactured missiles fitted with 1,100-pound warheads with ranges of at least 150 miles. That puts Tel Aviv within range of the Lebanese border. It also has drones that can carry dozens of pounds of explosive. In October 2012, a drone operated by Hezbollah penetrated Israeli airspace in the south before being detected and shot down by Israeli jets.  Hezbollah’s reconnaissance and communications capabilities have also improved. But the most significant change may be the crucial combat experience Hezbollah’s cadres have gained from fighting in Syria’s war on behalf of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Iran is investing a lot in Hezbollah in Syria…. Hezbollah is involved up to their necks in it,” Gantz said.  There is “a radical axis developing, led by Iran and Hezbollah” in Syria, Gantz warned, stressing that “The Lebanese terror organization is up to its neck in everything that is going on in Syria. The global jihad is also gaining strength in that arena.”  “Hezbollah is like a state and they know exactly what is going to happen in Lebanon if they start a war with us, and that this would set Lebanon back decades,” he said.  At the Herzliya conference, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon underscored Hezbollah’s sponsor, Iran, as Israel’s chief security concern.  “From our point of view, this is the number one threat,” he said.

“Hezbollah, the jihad and terror in the Golan Heights — Iran is behind it as well as the attacks worldwide. Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in Gaza wouldn’t exist without Iranian support in the form of money, weapons and training,” he added.  According to a report in the Israel Defense Magazine, Hezbollah has assembled a new group named Unit 3800” which is tasked with arming and training Shiite militants in Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere in the region.

The revelation comes in the wake of the arrest and interrogation of two Hezbollah operatives caught by Yemeni forces training rebels in the north of that country several days ago.  The unit, previously known under the designations “1800″ and “2800,” in the past trained Palestinian terrorists in tactics including kidnappings, targeted killings, and intelligence gathering. It’s leadership, however, has revised and upgraded it’s brief and range of operations in the wake of the so-called “Arab Spring” of popular insurrections across the Mideast.

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