Hezbollah rearms in Lebanon as Israel launches almost daily border strikes

The Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah is rebuilding its military arsenal on Israel’s northern border, as experts warn a new war between the two sides could be on the horizon. The latest developments come a year after the United States helped broker a ceasefire between the sides.

On Wednesday, IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah had engaged in “a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.” Shoshani also released a video showing the rearmament, saying the terrorist group was “operating to reestablish its assets in the village of Beit Lif.”

Critics say the United Nations peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, is not fulfilling its mandate to disarm the terrorist group and that the Lebanese armed forces are moving too slowly, leading to continued Israeli actions against the terrorists. The Israeli army launches almost daily strikes against the group’s infrastructure and agents in Lebanon.

Iran smuggled $1 billion to Hezbollah this year despite U.S. sanctions, Treasury official says

Hezbollah fighters attend the funeral of their commander Wissam al-Tawil, in the southern Lebanese village of Khirbet Selm, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. A war of words playing out in Lebanon shows long-standing schisms in the small country over Hezbollah, now amplified by the militant group’s role in border clashes between Lebanon and Israel and by fears that a Lebanon already hit by the crisis is not brought about in this country. a total war. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, file)

Sarit Zehavi, a leading Israeli security expert on Hezbollah from the Israel Alma Research and Education Center, told Fox News Digital that Hezbollah does not currently have “the capacity to carry out an invasion in October.” They had it before October 7, 2023. They can send a few terrorists. I want to believe that it will take a few years to recover these capacities.”

Fox News Digital exclusively reported last year on Hezbollah’s war plan to invade northern Israel and wage a scorched earth campaign against the Jewish state.

A day after Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023 and massacred more than 1,200 people, Hezbollah launched missile attacks against Israel.

A strike against Hezbollah which, according to the Israeli Air Force, was carried out overnight. (Israeli Air Force)

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEZBOLLAH AND HAMAS GROUPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Zehavi said: “The IDF and Hezbollah are very active. The IDF is very active in stopping the rehabilitation of Hezbollah and Hezbollah is very active in reconstruction. Hezbollah has learned lessons. It has been more problematic to smuggle weapons into Lebanon from Syria. This is happening. But the Syrians intercepted weapons.

She noted that “the Syrian regime is ready to fight Hezbollah to combat arms smuggling. Hezbollah relies more on rocket manufacturing.”

Zehavi, who lives in northern Israel, said that “nearly half of Israeli attacks against Hezbollah take place south of the Litani River. We see a lot of Hezbollah investment in drones, short-range rockets, mortars and anti-tank missiles.”

On Tuesday, prosecutors in Germany opened a trial against an alleged Hezbollah member who had been running “a vast drone program for some time.”

Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said alleged Hezbollah member Fadel Z joined Hezbollah more than 10 years ago and worked as a “foreign operator” for the group’s 2022 drone program in Spain and Germany.

Zehavi said he suffered a leadership defeat following the Mossad pager attack on his commanders. However, she added, “Iran immediately provided Hezbollah with oxygen for treatment to help revive Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffins of four comrades killed Tuesday after their portable pager exploded in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, September 18. (Bilal Hussein/AP)

Israel degrades Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in spectacular pager blast operation: experts

She presented Israel’s main defense strategy against Hezbollah. First, the IDF has positions in Syria and Lebanon. “We cannot have civilians on the front lines. The Israeli army is on top of the hills in Israel and Lebanon, it can see everything and can respond quickly to terrorist activity. This means that when an Israeli woman opens her window and sees a Hezbollah flag, she now sees an Israeli flag. It gives her a feeling of security. This was not the case before October 7.

She estimates that Hezbollah has 50,000 terrorists and 50,000 reservists. “We killed a few thousand terrorists.”

The Israeli military has made spectacular progress in eradicating Hezbollah’s missile arsenal. “We have degraded 80 percent” of the rockets, Zehavi said, noting the elimination of a significant number of Hezbollah’s long-range, high-precision missiles.

Edy Cohen, a Lebanese-born Israeli expert on Hezbollah, said: “Weapons for Hezbollah are not lacking in Beirut and Lebanon. Lately we have seen many reports that Hezbollah has received weapons from Syria and that Iran is trying to send weapons via Iranian civilian planes. »

Lebanese Hezbollah fighters take part in cross-border raids, as part of a large-scale military exercise, in Aaramta, on the border with Israel, on May 21, 2023, ahead of the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

HEZBOLLAH NEIGHBORS: THE ISRAELI BORDER COMMUNITY UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK FROM A TERRORIST GROUP

He said there was enormous pressure on Hezbollah and that every week Israel was killing Hezbollah members. Lebanon’s Shiite community wants Hezbollah to retaliate against Israel, Cohen said, adding: “For the Shiite community, Hezbollah is the state.”

Cohen said the IDF was collecting information on Hezbollah’s arsenal and attacking its leaders and operatives almost every day.

Hezbollah terrorists take part in cross-border raids, as part of a large-scale military exercise, in Aaramta, on the border with Israel, on May 21, 2023, ahead of the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Image)

He warned that because “Hezbollah said it would not disarm its militias…the big war would come.”

Fox News Digital reported in early November that Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Thomas Barrack, who is also envoy to Syria, had declared Lebanon a “failed state” due to its “paralyzed government.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

He also noted that Hezbollah holds 40,000 fighters and between 15,000 and 20,000 rockets and missiles, pointing out that the terrorist group pays its militia $2,200 per month, while Lebanese army soldiers earn $275 per month and also have substandard equipment.