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.
Israeli Ministries Cut Ties With Haaretz Over Scathing Comments
Multiple Israeli state ministries announced the suspension of ties with daily prestigious liberal daily Haaretz after the newspaper’s publisher described Palestinians as “freedom fighters.”
This decision late Thursday came after Haaretz owner Amos Schocken made the comments in London last Sunday, which sparked controversy within Israeli political circles.
Israeli news outlet Israel Hayom reported that an Interior Ministry directive includes halting cooperation with Haaretz due to Schocken’s remarks. The ministry has demanded an apology from Schocken for his description of Palestinians.
In a subsequent press conference, Schocken expressed regret for his comments, stating: “I have reconsidered my words … As for (Palestinian group) Hamas, they are not freedom fighters.”
In his original remarks, Schocken criticized the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that it “doesn’t care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters, that Israel calls terrorists.”
He referred to the situation in Gaza as a “second Nakba” – the “catastrophe” of the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in 1948, when Israel was founded – and called for sanctions on Israel, claiming that this is the only way to achieve a Palestinian state.
Following Schocken’s remarks, the Israeli Culture Ministry announced it would immediately cease all advertising and collaborations with Haaretz.
The controversy intensified after Haaretz published an editorial on Wednesday suggesting it was not surprising that serious doubts arose about Israel’s practice of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, part of a recent forceful effort to force Palestinians out of the area. “If it looks like ethnic cleansing, it probably is,” said the editorial.
Haaretz’s commentary highlighted the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, noting that Israeli forces have besieged northern Gaza for over three weeks, resulting in significant restrictions on humanitarian aid.
The editorial warned that continued aggression could lead to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and the destruction of entire communities, leaving a lasting moral and legal stain on Israeli society.
The Israeli army has sustained a deadly offensive in northern Gaza since Oct. 5, claiming it aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Overall, Israeli forces have killed more than 43,000 people since a cross-border offensive by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 and injured over 101,000.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.