Hezbollah acquires precision missiles

beirut — Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said on Thursday it had acquired “precision missiles” despite extensive efforts by neighbour and foe Israel to prevent the militant movement developing this capability.

“It has been done. The resistance now owns precision missiles” as part of its weaponry, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address during the commemoration of Ashura.

Israel this month acknowledged carrying out more than 200 strikes over the past 18 months in wartorn Syria, where Hezbollah fights alongside Iran in support of the Damascus regime.

Israel has said it is working to stop both Iran and Hezbollah from acquiring sophisticated arms.

“Attempts in Syria to block the way towards this (missile) capability” have failed, Nasrallah said.

“If Israel imposes a war on Lebanon, it will face a fate that it never would have expected.”

Israel has fought several conflicts against Hezbollah, the last in 2006. The Israeli military believes Hezbollah has between 100,000 and 120,000 short-range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred longer-range missiles.

Late Monday, an Israeli raid hit Syria’s Latakia province to prevent what the Jewish state said were deliveries of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah. Nasrallah accused the Israelis of trying to kill him “day and night”. —