HEZBOLLAH’S FORMIDABILITY
While some Western officials have downplayed Hezbollah’s formidability as a paramilitary force, those on the ground told CNA they feel the opposite.
“The rockets and missiles of Hezbollah can reach almost everywhere in Israel,” said IDF Lieutenant-Colonel (Reserve) Sarit Zehavi, who founded non-profit Alma Research and Education Center. It researches security challenges on Israel’s northern borders.
She added: “Of course, we have the Iron Dome but the amounts would be huge and we understand that the Iron Dome would not be enough.”
Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system was created to cope with mortars and rockets shot into Israel at relatively close range.
Hezbollah also claims to have more than 100,000 battle-hardened soldiers who fought in the Syrian civil war.
“THE LAST FRONTIER”
For months, tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border have been under evacuation orders.
But in Israel, some soldiers from towns that dot the northern ridge have stayed put to guard the border line as part of an emergency squad.
Some IDF officials, who declined to give their full names as a precaution, said the border line is a strategic frontline for both sides.
“This is actually the last frontier,” said Omri, a first responder commander from the IDF reserves.
In the meantime, amid fears that any kind of miscalculation from either side could ignite this tinderbox region, more countries have been calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial flights are still available.
Foreign mediators have been desperately seeking a diplomatic solution to try and stop the crisis from escalating into a full-scale regional war.
At a press briefing last month, United States’ Department of State representative Matthew Miller said the US thinks a diplomatic resolution “is possible”.
“We’re going to continue to pursue that because it’s in the interests of all the parties involved, and most importantly, in the interests of the tens of thousands of Israeli and Lebanese families who have been displaced from their homes and want to be able to return home,” he added.
