With its massive underground tunnels network and a vast weapons arsenal, Lebanon’s armed Hezbollah group poses a “huge threat” to Israel, despite the Mossad’s notoriously sophisticated intelligence tactics, experts have told Al Arabiya English.
On Monday, Israel expanded its airstrikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s southern and eastern regions. The armed group on Wednesday announced that it had launched a rocket aimed at what it claimed was the Mossad spy agency’s headquarters near Tel Aviv. The group accused Mossad of orchestrating the assassinations of its leaders and sabotaging communication equipment used by its members following the mass pager and walkie-talkie explosions across Lebanon last week.
These incidents have marked a significant escalation in tensions between the two long-time adversaries, heightening concerns that the nearly year-long conflict could escalate further, threatening stability in the broader Middle East, where the war between Hamas and Israel is already raging in Gaza.
Boaz Shapira, a researcher at Alma, an Israeli think tank that specializes in Hezbollah, told Al Arabiya English that, Israel hasn’t yet targeted most of Hezbollah’s strategic arrays.
“This includes long-range rockets, precision-guided missiles, UAVs, cruise missiles, anti-aircraft systems, anti-ship missiles and so on,” Shapira said. “Also, Israel hasn’t carried out significant attacks in Beirut against Hezbollah targets (there are a lot of long-range rockets, precision-guided missiles and headquarters). Additionally, most of the Hezbollah personnel targeted so far were from the military wing.”