What we learn about Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal amid fears of struggle with Israel

It has acquired giant shipments of rockets and drones from Iran, its principal patron, and has extra just lately begun to supply its personal weapons. The group additionally boasts air protection capabilities, which most militias don’t have.

The group’s arsenal consists of guided and unguided rockets, antitank artillery, ballistic and antiship missiles, in addition to explosives-laden drones — portending a fancy, multi-front battle that would attain far into Israeli territory.

Analysts estimate Hezbollah has between 130,000 and 150,000 rockets and missiles, greater than 4 instances as many as its ally Hamas was believed to have stockpiled earlier than the struggle in Gaza. And the Lebanese group says it instructions greater than 100,000 troopers, properly over double the high-end estimates of Hamas’s prewar preventing power.

Most of Hezbollah’s weapons are lower-grade, unguided munitions, which may threaten Israel’s aerial protection techniques if unleashed in giant numbers. Much more regarding for Israel are precision munitions the group has stated it possesses.

Hezbollah retains a good lid on its arsenal, leaving weapons specialists to guess in regards to the full extent of its capabilities. A lot of what’s publicly identified comes from statements by the group, and its chief, Hasan Nasrallah, who says his fighters have solely used “a portion of our weapons” in escalating assaults on northern Israel since Oct. 8.

Israel’s navy has retaliated with intense strikes on Lebanon, largely within the south, utilizing fighter jets, tanks, Hermes drones and white phosphorus munitions.

Tens of hundreds of civilians have been displaced on each side of the border.

At the very least 94 civilians and greater than 300 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, based on figures compiled by The Washington Put up. The assaults have precipitated $1.5 billion in damages and have destroyed round 1,700 buildings, the Lebanese authorities estimates.

Israeli officers say Hezbollah assaults have killed 18 troopers and 12 civilians. They’ve additionally broken tons of of properties and ignited fires that burned greater than 40,000 acres.

Hezbollah first began hitting northern Israel a day after Hamas-led militants stormed the nation and killed some 1,200 folks. The group has stated it’s going to proceed preventing till Israel agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza.

Hezbollah has used completely different short-range missiles and rockets, at first focusing on tanks and different technical tools close to the border earlier than progressing to assaults on navy barracks and bases.

On Nov. 11, Nasrallah revealed Hezbollah was utilizing Burkan rockets. An improvised rocket-assisted munition that may be simply assembled, the Burkan has develop into a “signature weapon of Iran-supported teams within the area,” based on Fabian Hinz, a protection and navy analyst on the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research.

The Alma Analysis and Schooling Heart, an Israeli assume tank, says the weapon will be fired from a floor launcher and might trigger “in depth destruction” as much as 500 ft from the purpose of impression.

Gen. Mounir Shehadeh, a former Lebanese authorities coordinator to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, stated the Burkan was first used and examined by Hezbollah in Syria — the place Nasrallah deployed fighters to prop up President Bashar al-Assad in the course of the nation’s civil struggle.

Nasrallah additionally revealed in November that the group was utilizing Katyusha rockets. Initially made by the Soviet Union and copied by Iran, they’ll journey 12 to 24 miles and are fired in a collection.

Though they’re unguided, Hinz says Hezbollah “can hearth numerous them as a result of they’re low cost and, till sure ranges, they work.”

In an interview with Hezboallah’s Al-Manar TV in early July, an artillery officer, recognized as Hajj Muhammad Ali, talking along with his face blurred and voice altered, stated the group is able to firing 100 Katyushas at a time from truck-mounted launchers.

Iranian-made Raad rockets have been utilized by Hezbollah in a lethal assault on the Israeli port metropolis of Haifa in the course of the 2006 struggle, however haven’t been unleashed but throughout this spherical of preventing.

In January, after Israel killed high commander Wissam Tawil, Hezbollah began showcasing extra refined rockets, together with the Iranian-made Falaq mannequin. This was adopted by camera-equipped Almas weapons, guided antitank missiles that may pierce heavy armor.

Bigger guided ballistic missiles, just like the Fateh 110, current a larger menace, with a variety of as much as 185 miles, doubtlessly placing Tel Aviv, and even Jerusalem, within the crosshairs. Related missiles have been utilized by Iran in an unprecedented — however well-telegraphed — aerial assault in opposition to Israel earlier this yr, giving the Israeli navy time to intercept them. It’s unclear what impression they may have if launched from throughout the border in Lebanon, particularly in giant numbers.

Nasrallah stated in 2018 that Hezbollah possesses precision-guided munitions (PGMs), however the group has by no means examined or showcased them in public. Extra just lately, in 2022, he claimed Hezbollah has the flexibility to “rework our rockets … into precision missiles” with the assistance of Iranian specialists.

Analysts say he may very well be referring to one thing just like the Spice kits america supplies to Israel to retrofit “dumb bombs” into precision munitions.

PGMs are simpler as a result of they “they’re outfitted with lively seekers,” stated Shaan Shaikh, a fellow on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research and deputy director of its Missile Protection Venture.

“Nasrallah has talked about it, the [Israel Defense Forces] has raised considerations. … But it surely’s arduous to say something definitive with out proof,” he added.

Hezbollah is secretive about its arsenal, Hinz stated. It took 13 years for the group to disclose that it used a C-802 missile to sink an Israeli ship in 2006.

Antiship missiles is also used to hit offshore oil rigs, particularly in Israel’s Leviathan gasoline subject — a goal the group alluded to in a video final month.

Hezbollah has a big fleet of drones at its disposal, various in measurement, form and functionality.

In keeping with official statements, the group first began utilizing explosive-laden drones on Nov. 2 in an assault on an Israeli military submit within the Golan Heights, footage of which was later launched on its Telegram account. The IDF stated two troopers have been injured.

Hinz says the kind of drone used on this and different assaults have been almost certainly modeled after the Iranian Ababil-T drone, which the Alma Analysis and Schooling Heart says can journey about 75 miles with almost 90 kilos of explosives.

In mid-Might, after Israeli forces invaded Rafah, in southern Gaza, Hezbollah unleashed a extra superior model that may hearth two rockets and explode upon impression. The unmanned aerial automobile was first utilized in a Might 16 assault on an Israeli military garrison close to the border, which injured three troopers, the IDF stated.

Though Iran is Hezbollah’s principal arms provider, the group has develop into extra self-reliant in recent times. “Right this moment, we in Lebanon, and for a very long time, have begun manufacturing drones,” Nasrallah stated in 2022, a declare he reiterated in June.

Hezbollah has additionally used industrial drones for reconnaissance, and to check for gaps in Israel’s aerial defenses. In late June, a drone flew undetected over Haifa for hours, recording footage of strategic websites. Alma believes it was an Iranian-made Hudhud-1 UAV; Hezbollah has not confirmed the mannequin.

It’s uncommon for non-state actors like Hezbollah to have air protection capabilities, signaling the extent of the group’s preparedness for struggle.

Hezbollah has used surface-to-air munitions, most notably the Iranian-made 358 antiaircraft missile, to shoot down Israeli drones, based on Hinz.

On at the least two events, the group additionally claims to have used extra refined munitions — seemingly the Iranian Sayyad-2C, Hinz stated, a radar-guided missile that may attain targets at almost 90,000 ft — in opposition to Israeli fighter jets, forcing them to retreat.

Such capabilities may current a singular, and weird, problem to Israel’s air superiority. “Hezbollah is much better outfitted than Hamas,” Shaikh stated.

In early June, in response to the killing of a senior commander, Hezbollah lobbed 150 rockets and 30 drones in a single barrage, the biggest such assault on Israel from the north. On Thursday, after one other Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah commander, the group upped the ante once more, firing greater than 200 rockets.

In an all-out struggle, these so-called “saturation assaults” — through which tons of of small rockets are launched on the similar time — may overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome.

“They’ve already spent a whole lot of Iron Dome interceptors in the course of the struggle in Gaza,” Hinz stated. “What number of have they got left?”

The Fateh ballistic missiles is also unleashed in salvos, specialists say, elevating different essential questions on Israel’s degree of preparation.

“How efficient are David’s Sling and Arrow interceptors in opposition to these missiles?” Shaikh puzzled, referring to Israel’s protection techniques for medium- and long-range missiles. “Can the IDF detect, observe and hearth on these missiles whereas they’re being prepped for launch?”

“There’s lots we don’t know.”

Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.