Duwairi: Hezbollah and Its Battle Management Versus Israel

Military expert Major-General Fayez Al-Duwairi said Hezbollah regained its political balance after it revamped its tactical and operational balance a few weeks ago at the level of managing the battle with Israel. He pointed to the party’s dual employment of its qualitative missiles on the horizontal and vertical levels.

Al-Duwairi explained on Al Jazeera Hezbollah’s Nasr and Aziz units are responsible for managing the defensive battle efficiently in the area south of the Litani River.

The Litani River extends 170 kilometers from its source in the east to its mouth in the west, and is about 30 kilometers from the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The strategic expert explained this party wanted to reveal the Imad 5 facility “to present a specific vision regarding the employment of qualitative missiles”, which he considered as “a translation of restoring the balance”.

Hezbollah’s war media section published a video clip, Sunday evening, showing a missile launch facility called Imad 5, which included missile launchers and equipment inside an underground military facility.

The military expert warned of what he called “Hezbollah’s dual use of missile power”, as it sometimes resorts to direct missile targeting, and sometimes launches missiles to serve another military approach.

Missile barrages

According to Al-Duwairi, Hezbollah resorts to launching missile barrages that coincide with or slightly precede its drones, as the Iron Dome radars pick up the missile signal and focuses on it, while the drones penetrate deep into Israel, sometimes reaching up to 150 kilometers.

Hezbollah’s drones have become an obsession for the Israeli army with Al-Duwairi saying the party focuses on “the evening barrage launch to paralyze the widest possible geographical area of ​​Israel and force about two million people to enter the underground shelters.”

Hezbollah recently begun a horizontal escalation consisting of launching 100 rockets per day, in addition to a vertical escalation through the use of rockets it never used before, the military expert said.

Duwairi added Hezbollah’s qualitative rockets are evident through their range, accuracy, and ability to reach the target, noting the party has “a bank of targets arranged according to priorities in terms of the impact of these targets on the course of the battle and Israel.”

For these reasons, the party is focusing on Israeli military bases and the facilities that serve them, such as technical and military industries and weapons depots, in addition to economic facilities.

Hezbollah has been focusing in recent days on targeting the Glilot base of the 8200 Military Intelligence Unit in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, and the Palmachim Air Base (south of Tel Aviv).

It is also focusing on the Shraga and Sanat Gen logistics bases north of Acre, in addition to the Misgav base (northeast of Haifa), the Ramat David base and airport (southeast of Haifa), and the Zevulun military industries base (north of Haifa).

However, the military expert adds “Hezbollah is very cautious and does not want to go too far in its policy of targeting Haifa versus the southern suburbs of Beirut” for fear of a corresponding Israeli overreach.

Al-Duwairi explained Hezbollah is bombing military targets in return for an Israeli targeting of the party’s social infrastructure and incubator.

He explains the party cannot defeat the Israeli army in a conventional war, but “just by its survival and ability to withstand, and prevent Israel from achieving its goals and deterring it, it is considered victorious.”

Since 23 September, Israel has expanded its war on Hezbollah to include most areas of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, through unprecedentedly violent and intense air strikes, and it has also begun a ground incursion in the south, relying on five military divisions operating along the border with Lebanon.

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UN Appeals to Israel to Leave Lebanon’s Cultural Sites Alone

The UN urged the protection of cultural heritage sites on Wednesday after reported Israeli airstrikes on Baalbek in eastern Lebanon. 

“Clearly, we do not want to see any harm, tend to people and also to the cultural heritage,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.

“I think one of the things we’ve seen in conflicts in recent years is the destruction of cultural heritage that can never be replaced,” he added according to Anadolu.

His remarks came in response to a question on the situation in Lebanon after a new wave of Israeli airstrikes near Baalbek, which reportedly killed 30 people.

An important urban center in the Bekaa Valley, Baalbek is famed for its towering Roman ruins. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to more than 100,000 residents.

Previous Israeli airstrikes in Douris have destroyed ancient sites.

Israel last month launched a massive air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets in an escalation in a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and the group since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip.

More than 2,700 people have been killed and nearly 12,500 injured in Israeli attacks since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel expanded the conflict by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.

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Sheikh Naim Qassem Officially Hezbollah Chief

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has named Sheikh Naim Qassem as their Secretary-General, succeeding the movement’s long-running leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated in a targeted Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.

Hezbollah has appointed its deputy secretary general Naim Qassem as chief on Tuesday to succeed his predecessors Hashem Safieddine and Hassan Nasrallah who were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Qassem, a longtime deputy to Nasrallah, has served as the group’s acting leader since Nasrallah’s death.

Who’s Naim Qassem?

The 71-year-old is Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, and has often been referred to as the movement’s “number two”.

He was born in the Nabatieh governorate’s Kfar Kila, a southern Lebanese village that has suffered through many Israeli attacks, especially since last October.

Qassem was elected deputy secretary-general in 1991, under then-Secretary-General Abbas al-Musawi, who was also assassinated by Israel.

He has played an important public-facing role in Hezbollah over the years, and is also a member of the group’s Shura Council.

He famously published a book called, Hezbollah, the Story from Within, in 2005, which was translated into several languages.

Qassem has long been one of the leading spokesmen for Hezbollah, conducting many interviews with foreign media according to the Al Quds News Network.

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Halevi: Israel Suffers ‘Heavily, Painfully’ in Lebanon

Military expert Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi said the Israeli occupation’s entry into southern Lebanon must be understood within the directions “previously set by Hezbollah in its defensive plan for any ground battle.” He also listed the reasons for the high losses among the Israeli forces.

Al-Falahi said the defensive operation is important in military sciences as it means waiting for the enemy to find a better opportunity. He indicated this operation must take into account the nature of the changing reality, and respond to all possibilities, either completely or partially.

He pointed out the Israeli high losses in southern Lebanon are due to several reasons, including the nature of the geography, which is different from the battles of the Gaza Strip. This is in addition to the deployment of military teams exhausted by the fighting in the streets, homes and neighborhoods of Gaza, he maintained.

Weak

Al Falahi on Al Jazeera explained that the combat capabilities of the Israeli military “appear weak in an environment friendly to Hezbollah fighters that has known defensive arrangements for a long time.”

He pointed out five Israeli military divisions are participating in the ground incursion operations in southern Lebanon: 210, 98, 91, 36, 146, and each division includes more than one military brigade, and according to military standards has more than 10,000 soldiers.

The occupation’s losses in Lebanon has come as a result of the direct clashes and/or targeting with artillery or mortar shells on the border strip with Hezbollah fighters, starting from Ras al-Naqoura to the Shebaa Farms.

The occupation has revealed that 88 Israeli soldiers were injured in the battles in Lebanon in the past 48 hours, while Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi acknowledged that Israel is suffering “heavily and painfully”.

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Israeli Base Under Attack

Military expert Major General Faiz Al-Duwairi highlighted the increasing targeting of Israel’s Ramat David base by Hezbollah. This base, crucial for northern occupied Palestine, houses around 60% of Israel’s aircraft used in attacks on Lebanon, posing a strategic threat if its operational capacity is diminished.

Ramat David is an airbase 20 kilometers southeast of Haifa.

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