Allegedly 150,000 rockets: Hezbollah’s arsenal

A new propaganda video allegedly shows the highly armed weapons arsenal of the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon. But how extensive is the Shiite militia’s arsenal really? And does it operate without Iran?

War is also fought psychologically, and Hezbollah knows all about it: A new propaganda video shows fighters driving on motorbikes and trucks through an extensive tunnel system, apparently carved out of rock. They transport modern rockets and enter coordinates into laptops. A speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah can be heard off-screen, in which he threatened Israel with serious attacks back in 2018. His militia can reach every corner of the country.

The video that the Lebanese Shiite militia has just posted online looks like it came from the workshop of a mediocre computer game developer. But it makes an impression even on Lebanese people who have little sympathy for the militia: “This teaches the Jews to be afraid! Despite all their weapons, they live in constant fear of being hit by rockets,” says a young man who is getting ready to run on Beirut’s promenade.

Hezbollah has more weapons, personnel, experience and willpower than ever before – and the coordinates for targets in Israel, the video says. At the end, gates open and a rocket launcher is aimed towards the sky.

Ready for confrontation even without Tehran

This performance is intended to suggest that Hezbollah is ready to confront Israel even if the Iranian allies do not intervene directly, says Khalil Hamade, a retired Lebanese general

In October, Hezbollah started a border war with Israel in order to support the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Shiite militia is blamed for the attack on the Golan Heights, in which twelve young people died at the end of July. Since Israel then killed a high-ranking Hezbollah commander and then alleged Hamas political leader Ismail Haniya in Tehran, there have been fears of a major war in the region.

Expert sees Hezbollah well prepared

But could Hezbollah actually lead it? General (ret.) Hamade is convinced of this. Since the 2006 war, the terrorist organization’s largest conflict with Israel to date, the militia has built extensive tunnel and bunker systems in the border area with Israel and massively expanded its weapons arsenal. Israel has not yet been able to weaken this infrastructure: “Hezbollah now has significant access to Iranian precision-guided missiles, even if Tehran retains control over them,” says the former military officer.

The militia is said to have over 150,000 rockets. Hamade mentions Iranian rockets of the Raad, Fajr and Zelzal types, but also Russian Katyusha and Burkan rockets. In October, the militia shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon for the first time using an anti-aircraft missile of unknown origin. Most of the weapons come from Russia and North Korea, and Iran is said to have developed some of them further.

Key figure Iran

“Importing these weapons into Lebanon is relatively easy,” says Hamade – because Iranian militias control important land routes from Iran through Iraq and Syria. Not only that: Iran has also played a key role in training Hezbollah and other Tehran allies in the region.

Experts’ opinions differ on whether, when and to what extent Hezbollah and Iran would launch an attack on Israel, whether coordinated or synchronized, for example with a hail of rockets that would overwhelm even the “Iron Dome” air defense system. The fear of a regional war remains.