WarSclerotic

Hezbollah’s missile arsenal has been static for ‎years and the organization lacks the industrial ‎ability to convert, upgrade or produce precision ‎weapons, Director of Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. ‎Tamir Heyman said Tuesday.‎

Briefing the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense ‎Committee on the tensions in the northern sector, ‎Heyman said Operation Northern Shield to neutralize ‎Hezbollah tunnels snaking under the Israel-Lebanon ‎border, as well as other measures exercised by the ‎IDF, were part of “an era of disruption and shaping ‎new reality on the ground” the Israeli military is ‎pursuing as part of the “campaign between the wars.” ‎

He was referring to a strategic concept that ‎encompasses a host of covert and low-intensity ‎military and intelligence efforts to prevent enemy ‎states and terrorist organizations from becoming ‎stronger and thwart their offensive activity.‎

‎”The regional upheavals are waning and we are on the ‎brink of significant changes, which harbor ‎opportunities as well as risks in all sectors,” he ‎said.‎

Commenting on the situation in Syria, Heyman said ‎that Israel was determined to curb Iran’s aspiration ‎to entrench itself militarily in Syria, which he ‎said was also a source of friction among decision-‎makers in Tehran.‎

This friction has caused Iran’s efforts in Syria to ‎slow considerably, he noted. ‎

Iran is facing an economic crisis over the U.S.’s ‎decision to reimpose sanctions on it. so far, ‎Israeli intelligence has been able to successfully ‎warn the relevant entities in the international ‎community as to the Islamic republic’s attempts to ‎bypass the American sanctions, he said.‎

Heyman stressed that despite regional tensions, ‎chances of war remain slim, “As it doesn’t seem to ‎be in our enemies’ interest at this time.” ‎

He nevertheless warned that the volatile situation ‎in all sectors consistently creates conditions for a ‎potential rapid escalation. ‎

AP

Meanwhile, an American think tank released an ‎analysis of Hezbollah’s missile arsenal.‎

‏The Missile Threat website, a product of the Missile ‎Defense ‎Project at the Center for Strategic and ‎‎International Studies in Washington, which looks at ‎a wide ‎range of policy, program, and strategic ‎issues ‎related to missile defense, has found that ‎the Shiite terrorist group is in possession of ‎‎130,000 rockets and missile, concluding that ‎‎”Hezbollah is the world’s most heavily armed non‎state actor, and has been described as a militia ‎trained like an army and equipped like a state.” ‎

The report found that the majority of Hezbollah’s ‎arsenal comprises short- and medium-range surface-to-surface, anti-tank and anti-ship missiles that ‎cannot be upgraded to precision-missiles, mostly ‎over Israel’s persistent efforts to thwart Iran’s ‎attempts to aid Hezbollah in this respect. ‎

The Shiite terrorist group has thousands of Katyusha and Scud missiles, as well as a wide ‎array of Iranian-made projectiles covering ‎various ranges, including Shain, Fajr, Falaq and ‎Zelzal missiles. ‎

While the Scud ‎missile is considered the group’s ‎‎‎”heavyweight threat,” the report noted that they are ‎‎”usually seen as impractical weapons” as they are ‎‎”very bulky to transport and difficult to hide and ‎manipulate, requiring 45 minutes of preparation. ‎They do not provide Hezbollah much advantage.‎”