What's new

Israel: Hezbollah is now stronger than any Arab army

Raphael

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
3,287
Reaction score
5
Country
China
Location
China
Israel: Hezbollah is now stronger than any Arab army - Yahoo News

Israel’s top military officer warned today that Hezbollah is more powerful than most of the world’s armies and that a confrontation between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militant organization was a near certainty.

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, Gen. Benny Gantz said. However, 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 Israel’s annual security-oriented Herzliya Conference. “What is this enormous power that they [Hezbollah] have that can cover every area of the state of Israel?”

RECOMMENDED: Hezbollah 101: Who is the militant group, and what does it want?

Gantz’s comments reflect Israel's longstanding concern about Hezbollah’s growing might, which has soared in terms of weaponry, technology, and personnel since the two enemies last fought each other in open war in 2006.

Last week, an anonymous Israeli intelligence officer wrote in Israel’s Maarachot military magazine that in the next war, Hezbollah would not merely defend against an Israeli invasion but could make a “ground offensive and multi-pronged attack on Israeli territory."

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. Fighters serving in Syria use thermal imaging cameras to monitor rebel movements and prepare ambushes, including one in February that killed 175 rebel fighters near Otaiba, east of Damascus. It has built a few dozen training camps across the Bekaa Valley in recent years to process the steady influx of new recruits.

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. Hezbollah is credited with helping turn the tide against the rebel forces in the past year, granting Mr. Assad the confidence to hold a presidential election last week that saw him earn his third seven-year term in office in a poll widely derided by the Syrian opposition and the West.

“Iran is investing a lot in Hezbollah in Syria.... Hezbollah is involved up to their necks in it,” Gantz said.

It is fortunate for Israel that Hezbollah's attention is divided between domestic politics, military preparations against Israel, and its intervention in Syria, Gantz said. Fear of a damaging war has served as a mutual deterrence.

“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.

Despite that, tensions rose in February and March after an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah facility in the Bekaa Valley. The target was a 2,450-sq.-ft. utility building, possibly a temporary arms storage facility, beside a track used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons into Lebanon from neighboring Syria, according to comparisons of satellite imagery on Google Earth.

It was the first Israeli air attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon since 2006. In response, Hezbollah detonated a roadside bomb against Israeli troops on Lebanon’s southern border. It is also thought responsible for staging three other attacks against soldiers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, wounding four.
 
.
This is a repost my friend, I mentioned this all in one thread. The claim is baseless as it isn't taken on a basis of military evaluations.

It's a phony deliberate attempt at deception. For many reasons.
 
.
Yeah, I highly doubt that. They've gotten a lot of experience from Syria and their wars with Israel, but they're still just another militia, who just happen to have some conventional weapons. Admittedly, they're probably stronger than Syria.
 
.
Hezbollah is a counter insurgency militia, not a regular army. I would rate Iraq's Mahdi Army and Syria's NDF above Hezbollah simply on manpower alone.
 
.
Yeah, I highly doubt that. They've gotten a lot of experience from Syria and their wars with Israel, but they're still just another militia, who just happen to have some conventional weapons. Admittedly, they're probably stronger than Syria.

This is based on weapons quantity. Every year Israel has an annual conference detailing their military assessments of the region. They blow things out of proportion to secure funds but also secure Western diplomatic support for future military operations conducted by Israel.

They literally took the number of 40,000 katuysha rockets in Hezbollah's inventory and snapped two fingers. Therefore Hezbollah has more 'missiles' than any nation in the region which makes them stronger than every nation in the region according to their deceptive 'assessments'.

Hezbollah is a light ground infantry / counter insurgency force, not a regular army. I would rate Iraq's Mahdi Army and Syria's NDF above Hezbollah simply on manpower alone.

Counter-insurgency force? o_O

Could you stop making a fool out of yourself already?
 
. .
Hezbollah is used for putting down dissent, in Lebanon and elsewhere.

Just because they're involved in such an affair at this moment doesn't mean they won't regain their honor later on. You as a non-Muslim are hostile to the idea of Muslims fighting for their dignity and honor. Your assertions mean nothing to us. This is what people like you want. To insist on a temporarily reality as an condition for the rest of existence. We refuse to do so.
 
.
AFAIK, Hezbollah doesn't have tanks. Mahdi Army has M1A1 tanks. NDF has T-72 tanks.
 
. .
Hezbollah only has about 80,000 soldiers. Both Mahdi Army and NDF has over 200,000 soldiers.
 
. .
All are rag tag militias compared to regional armed forces.


Mahdi Army and NDF are complementary to the Iraqi and Syrian military forces. They are better at operating in urban environments and are used for counter insurgency with heavy firepower support from army and air force.
 
.
Mahdi Army and NDF are complementary to the Iraqi and Syrian military forces. They are better at operating in urban environments and are used for counter insurgency with heavy firepower support from army and air force.
The both of them are sectarian and both helped the rise of organisation's like Ahl Nusra and ISIS. However they are effective in urban combat but not as effective as some people sometimes make out.
 
. .
Hezbollah DOES NOT have 80,000 military members. Stop making misinformed posts.


Counting reserves. Currently about 20,000 active, all in Syria. About 10,000 in the northern front. About 10,000 in the southern front.
 
.
Back
Top Bottom