Hezbollah Military Activities - Armed Strength

Armed Strength

Hezbollah has not revealed its armed strength. It has been estimated by Mustafa Alani, security director at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre, that Hezbollah's military force is made up of about 1,000 full-time Hezbollah members, along with a further 6,000-10,000 volunteers.

Hezbollah possesses the Katyusha-122 rocket, which has a range of 29 km (18 mi) and carries a 15-kg (33-lb) warhead. Hezbollah also possesses about 100 long-range missiles. They include the Iranian-made Fajr-3 and Fajr-5, the latter with a range of 75 km (47 mi), enabling it to strike the Israeli port of Haifa, and the Zelzal-1, with an estimated 150 km (93 mi) range, which can reach Tel Aviv. Fajr-3 missiles have a range of 40 km (25 mi) and a 45-kg (99-lb) warhead, and Fajr-5 missiles, which extend to 72 km (45 mi), also hold 45-kg (99-lb) warheads.

According to various reports, Hezbollah is armed with anti-tank guided missiles, namely, the Russian-made AT-3 Sagger, AT-4 Spigot, AT-5 Spandrel, AT-13 Saxhorn-2 'Metis-M', АТ-14 Spriggan 'Kornet'; Iranian-made Ra'ad (version of AT-3 Sagger), Towsan (version of AT-5 Spandrel), Toophan (version of BGM-71 TOW); and European-made MILAN missiles. These weapons have been used against IDF soldiers, causing many of the deaths during the 2006 Lebanon War. A small number of Saeghe-2s (Iranian-made version of M47 Dragon) were also used in the war.

For air defense, Hezbollah has anti-aircraft weapons that include the ZU-23 artillery and the man-portable, shoulder-fired SA-7 and SA-18 surface-to-air missile (SAM). One of the most effective weapons deployed by Hezbollah has been the C-701 anti-ship missile.

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired 3,970 rockets into Northern Israel in the course of a month, killing 43 Israeli civilians. Hezbollah officials have stated that the group's armaments have recovered fully from the previous war; during the "Divine Victory" rally, held shortly after the cease-fire, Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah declared that the group has "more than 20,000 rockets available". He also spoke in retrospect of the war, saying "Tel Aviv or elsewhere, we were certain that we could reach any corner or spot in occupied Palestine and now we are certain that we can reach them." (sic) Nasrallah has also implied that Hezbollah's rocket force became stronger in the months following the 2006 Lebanon War than it had been during the war itself. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak during IDF Armoured Corp exercises in the Golan Heights that "Hizbullah has gained significant strength in the last couple of years..We are closely following a possible violation caused by the transfer of advanced weapons systems from Syria to Hizbullah. The necessary preparations have been made, and regarding all the rest - I always prefer not to talk, rather to take action when the time comes." On August 10, 2008 it was reported that Brigadier-General Muhammad Suleiman of Syria supplied Hizb'allah with advanced SA-8 SAMs for air defence. On October 6th, 2012 a UAV allegedly operated by Hezbollah from Lebanon was shot down down by the Israeli Air Force near Yatir Forest.