Hizbullah Can Hit Tel Aviv with 600 Rockets Daily, for 60 Days: Maariv

 
Mohamad Shmaysani
Source: almanar.com.lb, 3-7-2009

Calm on the Lebanese-Palestinian border does not necessarily involve good news for "Israel", a report published by the "Israeli" daily Maariv said on Friday.
The report addresses the growing capacity of Hizbullah in Lebanon, three years after the 2006 war.

The journal emphasized that Hizbullah is tremendously magnifying its military capability and compiling new combative techniques in addition to a remarkable increase in the number of its fighters and trainers. The Maariv report pointed that Hizbullah is seeking to reach a level of capability that would enable it to launch a thousand rockets on "Israel" during a 60-day period of time.

Citing "Israeli" intelligence assessments, the "Israeli" daily also estimated that the party was close to reaching this level of capacity as it can today send between 500 and 600 rockets a day to Tel Aviv and surrounding areas.

The report added that unlike the rockets fired during the 2006 war, Hizbullah's present rockets are mostly long-range and mid-range missiles and in case a new war breaks out, the daily said, the center of "Israel" will be targeted with salvos of such rockets.

Maariv's report also said that Hizbullah has spread its rockets in a more complicated manner for "Israel" to figure out, as most of them are heavier caliber rockets, more precise and longer in range.

The number of trained fighters, the report says, has increased from 5000 to 8000 well trained fighters and that Hizbullah is building fortified garrisons and underground systems to serve an organized deployment of fighters and field commanders between north and south Litani River areas.

Maarvi described Hizbullah's formations as a compact defense system that enjoys the ability of ‘reciprocal coverage', artillery, anti-armor and intelligence capabilities in addition to the ability to deploy special unit forces.

In case a confrontation takes place, the report said, a self-martyrdom unit would be called in to break through the border line and conduct operation against "Israeli" forces inside occupied territories, including martyrdom operations.

Maariv concluded that Hizbullah assumes that in case of confrontation, the "Israeli" army will go for a large-scale ground assault. This is why, it said, Hizbullah is preparing itself for such a scenario with a defensive battle relying on the aforementioned formations and the party's goal will be to continue firing rockets deep inside occupied territories for at least two months in a fatal pace, Maariv estimated.


Hasan Hijazi contributed to this report