Hezbollah's missile attack on Israel reveals a potent arsenal

On April 12, 2024, Hezbollah from the territory of Lebanon launched a severe attack on Israel using 40-50 missile rockets. This included not just standard rockets, but Israel also had to defend using a couple of expensive missiles capable of combating ballistic targets. Here is what Hezbollah possesses.

Hezbollah, a Shiite political organization that constitutes an integral part of the governmental structures of Lebanon, possesses a well-trained militia of around 20,000 actively serving members and a similar number of reservists, according to an analysis prepared by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Therefore, Hezbollah poses a much greater threat than the Hamas militants operating from the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon's operational base is Hezbollah, whose power stability is very fragile. Thanks to its influences, this organization is considered one of the pillars of the state's action there. For example, Hezbollah offers significant support both socially, through a network of health facilities and charitable activities, and militarily to face possible attacks from Israel or other forces such as, at one time, the Islamic State.

On April 12, Hezbollah attacked Israel again with dozens of rockets, which a small shelling by Hamas from the southern part of the Gaza Strip also accompanied. These attacks involved simple solutions like unguided rockets launched from platforms such as the BM-21 Grad or BM-27 Uragan, along with ballistic missiles. This is indicated by Israel's use of both Tamir anti-missile system Iron Dome missiles and expensive anti-ballistic missiles costing over £1.6 million each from Patriot systems or Arrow-3.

Similar to Hamas, Hezbollah militants receive support from Iran, but being an independent Lebanon, they have facilitated capabilities for arms production, unlike Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip.

Besides a wide assortment of firearms and handheld anti-tank weapons, including double RPG-7 grenade launchers, they also possess modern anti-tank means like anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), Type Toophan (an improved copy of the BGM-71 TOW), Dehlavieh (a copy of the Russian 9M133-1 Kornet-E), and even a "Thar Allah" twin version. Meanwhile, the latest trend is the "Almas," an Iranian copy of the Israeli Spike-LR missile.

Hezbollah also has portable anti-aircraft systems QW-18 in its possession, which can combat targets within a range of up to 5 km and at altitudes up to about 4 km. These Chinese systems use dual-spectrum warheads employing infrared and ultraviolet detectors, significantly increasing their resistance to flares.

However, the biggest advantage of Hezbollah is its artillery and missile potential, significantly surpassing the capabilities of Hamas. With the support of Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has amassed, according to estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, around 130,000 missiles by 2021. Among them are classic BM-21 Grad launchers 122mm in calibre with a range of about 19 km, and solutions like BM-27 Uragan 220mm in calibre with a range of about 60 km. Hezbollah also has various types of ballistic missiles.

In this category are Iranian missiles Zelzal-1 and Zelzal-2, with a range of 125-160 km and 210 km, carrying a warhead weighing about 600kg. These missiles are heavily inspired by Soviet Luna-M. Additionally, in the arsenal are guided versions of these missiles with added inertial and satellite navigation from the Fateh-110 family, providing a circular error probable of less than 500 meters at a range of up to 300 km.

The organization also has an unspecified number of SCUD launchers in various versions, with a range of 300 to 550 km, capable of carrying loads from 600kg to about 985kg. This is a very dangerous arsenal whose use on a larger scale would be very problematic for Israel.