Israeli airstrikes disrupt Hezbollah's arsenal amid rising tensions
In response to Hezbollah's rocket attacks on northern Israel, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) conducted an airstrike on Hezbollah's weapon depots in Lebanon. Some of the airstrikes had unexpected effects.
As part of Operation "Northern Arrows", the IDF carried out a series of bombings on exposed Hezbollah weapon depots located in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. It turned out that some of the damage to civilian infrastructure was caused by Hezbollah's weapons.
Below, you can see how one of the rockets, fired due to damage, most likely flew out of a tunnel and hit residential buildings in an uncontrolled flight. In the event of shrapnel hitting the missile engine section, it may explode or ignite uncontrollably, as is shown in the video below. The explosion does not look weak, suggesting that the warhead probably contained tens of kilograms of TNT or another explosive charge.
Hezbollah rockets — a major threat to Israel
In recent months, Hezbollah has been intensely bombarding northern Israel with unguided rockets. This is a significant problem for Israel, as intercepting them requires engaging the "Iron Dome" system, whose Tamir interceptors can cost as much as £32,500-£40,500 each.
Combating simple rockets with such weapons is not cost-effective in the long run, and laser weapons like the "Iron Beam" are not yet in mass production. Therefore, Israel has reactivated preserved Machbet anti-aircraft systems.
However, the best method to stop the attacks is to disrupt the enemy's forces and destroy their logistics, which Israel is doing through airstrikes. Operation "Northern Arrows" was preceded by a Mossad operation that used modified pagers to eliminate or impair Hezbollah's command structure.
Hezbollah has very large stocks of 122mm rockets for BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, which can reach up to 19km or 40km, depending on the rockets, and 200mm rockets for BM-27 Uragan systems, which can reach up to 59km. These rockets are often launched from concrete launchers hidden in residential buildings or tunnels.
This is not the extent of Hezbollah's capabilities, as it also has an arsenal of short-range ballistic missiles. The main ones are the unguided Zelzal-1 and Zelzal-2 missiles, which have ranges of 125-159km and 209km, respectively. They carry warheads weighing up to 600kg and are based on Soviet-era Luna-M rockets.
There are also newer Iranian Fateh-110 missiles, including a guidance module with satellite and inertial navigation and an unknown number of SCUDs in various versions. These can range about 300-550km and carry payloads up to 1,000kg.
