Hezbollah, World’s ‘Most Powerful’ Terrorist Organisation, Poised for
Next War With Israel, Military Experts Conclude in New Report
Iran’s proxy in
Lebanon, the Shia terrorist movement Hezbollah, has become the “most powerful
non-state armed force on the planet,” a report by a group of former senior
military officials and diplomats, many of them from NATO member states,
concluded this week.
The report from the independent High-Level Military
Group (HLMG) — whose members include Iraq war veteran Lt.-Gen. Michael D.
Barbero of the US, Gen. Klaus Dieter Neumann, former commander of the German
armed forces, Lord Richard Dannatt, former commander of the British armed
forces, and Lt. Gen. Kamal Davar, the former head of India’s Defense
Intelligence Agency — asserted that Hezbollah now represents “a threat that few
countries, much less sub-state organizations, on the globe can mount.”
A renewed war with Israel was “inevitable,” the
report warned, that is certain to be “more violent and destructive”
than previous conflicts. Hezbollah has reportedly been withdrawing its
forces from Syria in recent weeks, transferring them toward Israel’s borders on
the Golan Heights.
Since the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah has
undergone a major boost in terms of missile development and
intelligence-gathering activities. “Israeli intelligence estimates put the
number of projectiles in Hezbollah’s possession today at well over
100,000,” the report,
titled “Hezbollah’s Terror Army: How To Prevent A Third Lebanon War,” said.
“The majority of these are short-range rockets, but thousands have a much
larger range, up to 150 miles and more.”
The report noted that “not only has the sheer numeric scale of the threat increased exponentially, but the lethality is greatly increased on account of larger payloads, range and higher targeting accuracy.” Hezbollah also “mounts a greatly expanded intelligence effort,” the report observed. “It has numerous intelligence-gathering units focused on Israel, generating an extensive bank of targets, including many vital and sensitive Israeli infrastructure facilities.”
The report noted that “not only has the sheer numeric scale of the threat increased exponentially, but the lethality is greatly increased on account of larger payloads, range and higher targeting accuracy.” Hezbollah also “mounts a greatly expanded intelligence effort,” the report observed. “It has numerous intelligence-gathering units focused on Israel, generating an extensive bank of targets, including many vital and sensitive Israeli infrastructure facilities.”
On the ground, Hezbollah fighters “are equipped
with AK-47 assault rifles, night vision goggles, and advanced anti-tank
weapons,” the report said. “Its combatants are highly skilled in deploying
explosives and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM).” Hezbollah’s
participation in the defense of the Iranian-backed Syrian dictator Bashar
al-Assad had improved the organization’s “ability to maneuver and carry out
relatively large-scale ground attacks at the scale of company or battalion
level,” the report pointed out.
Iran has played a decisive role in strengthening
Hezbollah’s capabilities, the report emphasized. “The upgrade in Hezbollah
capabilities is one discernible result of Iran and Hezbollah’s ongoing project
to equip the latter with more accurate longer-range missiles, so as to be able
to more effectively menace Israel,” it said. The report continued, “Hezbollah
embeds its military assets among the Lebanese civilians it claims to protect,
holds Lebanese politics and questions of war and peace hostage to its Iranian-led
regional military imperatives, and has infiltrated Lebanese state organs,
including the army, to utilize them for its aims.”
In the event of a renewed war between Hezbollah and
Israel, competition for international public support will be no less
fierce than during the 2006 hostilities, the report said. “This is likely to be
exacerbated by Israel’s doctrine requiring substantial and immediate damage to
Hezbollah in the opening stages of any new war, with the television pictures
and attendant battle over the narrative of the fighting likely to prove highly
contentious,” it stated.
Yet, the report stressed, “the international environment
has changed since the previous war, and a defensive assault on Hezbollah, a
terror organization now strongly associated with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in
Syria, will generate full support not only from the United States, but likely
also from other Western countries, in addition to tacit but increasing support
from the Sunni Arab world.” The report argued that while “Israel enjoys a
range of immense economic, diplomatic, and military assets, it is at serious
risk from a successful attack.”
Israel would pursue a strategy based on the twin imperatives of a
decisive and fast victory. “Hezbollah’s strategic concept, coupled to the gains
Iran has made regionally … mean that Israeli decision makers are firm in the
belief that they will have to respond with overwhelming force and at great
speed to any escalation forced upon them,” the report concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment