A woman looks on, as Hezbollah supporters protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 27, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
As clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along the border intensify, the Lebanese group is taking measures to minimize its losses as it prepares for the possibility of a protracted conflict, according to sources familiar with its strategies.
Over the past three weeks, Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization, has suffered the loss of 47 fighters due to Israeli strikes along Lebanon’s frontier. This toll represents approximately one-fifth of the number of fighters killed in the full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
The majority of these casualties have resulted from Israeli drone strikes. In response, Hezbollah has unveiled its surface-to-air missile capability for the first time, claiming to have downed an Israeli drone. These missiles form part of an increasingly potent arsenal.
While the Israeli military has acknowledged losing seven soldiers on the frontier, it has not commented on the reported drone incident from Sunday. However, Israel did confirm that it intercepted a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones and responded by striking the launch site.
One of the sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking revealed that the use of anti-aircraft missiles is one of several steps the group is taking to reduce casualties and counter Israeli drones, which have been targeting its fighters in the challenging terrain and olive groves along the border. Further details about these arrangements were not provided.
Since the outset of the war between Hamas and Israel, Hezbollah’s actions have been measured to limit clashes to the border zone. However, the group has made it clear that it is prepared for all-out war if required.
Israel has expressed a lack of interest in a conflict along its northern border with Lebanon but has also warned of severe repercussions if such a war were to begin.
Hezbollah, considered the most potent Iranian ally in the “Axis of Resistance” led by Tehran, has consistently claimed to have expanded its weaponry since 2006, asserting that its forces now pose a more significant threat to Israel. They state that their arsenal includes drones and rockets capable of reaching all parts of Israel.
During the border clashes since October 7, Hamas, which also maintains a presence in Lebanon, and a Lebanese Sunni Islamist faction called Jama’a Islamiya, have fired rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah itself has refrained from launching rockets deep into Israeli territory, a move that could provoke an escalation. Instead, their fighters have been targeting visible Israeli positions across the border, utilizing weapons like guided anti-tank Kornet missiles.
Hezbollah’s tactics thus far have contained the conflict to the border zone, but it has required their fighters to be in close proximity to the border, making them more vulnerable to Israeli military action. Some fighters underestimated the drone threat after years of combat in Syria, where they faced insurgent groups with less advanced weaponry.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has primarily stayed within a narrow band of land along the border, generally remaining within three to four kilometers of the frontier. However, Israeli shelling has expanded in recent days, including strikes in areas like Jabal Safi, located about 25 kilometers from the border.
In the 2006 war, Hezbollah lost 263 fighters as Israel struck various sites throughout Lebanon during the month-long conflict. The war erupted when Hezbollah conducted a raid into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
The death toll of 47 fighters this time, in a relatively contained conflict, has been a shock to Hezbollah’s supporters. Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s television channel, has been broadcasting daily funerals of fallen fighters being buried with military honors, their coffins draped in the group’s yellow and green flag. Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, released a handwritten letter to the media, referring to the fallen fighters as “martyrs on the road to Jerusalem.”
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