Hezbollah Strikes Israeli Base with 60 Katyusha Rockets

Hezbollah's 'military media' outlet reported that the targeted base is in occupied Golan Heights northeast of the occupied territories.

The strikes came as an immediate response to Israeli airstrikes on Baalbek 67 kilometers north of the capital Beirut that killed two civilians. 

The attacks are among the heaviest since Israeli regime waged war on Gaza on October 8. 

A few hours before, Hezbollah had announced that the Israeli positions of Radar and Ruwaisat Al-Alam in the occupied Shebba Farms were targeted with rockets.

The escalation came as Israeli media described the Israeli airstrikes on Baalbek as the "deepest" Israeli attacks on Lebanon since 2006 war.

War on Hezbollah not a piece of cake

War between Hezbollah and Tel Aviv is gaining momentum slowly. Over the past month, there has been a tangible escalation between the two sides, with each side striking deeper each time it receives a strike from the opposite side.

The Israeli leaders said that they are ready to start a war, a full-scale one, just like that of 2006, which they lost. 

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is losing patience with Hezbollah as the latter continues to strike Israeli positions in solidarity with Gaza people who are subjected to a true genocide.

Netanyahu said earlier that he will turn Beirut to another Gaza and Khan Younis. Israeli army spokesman said that Hezbollah is playing a "very very dangerous game." 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant yesterday said that Israeli will increase strikes on Hezbollah even during a potential Gaza truce.

These Israeli warnings are made against a movement now described as a regional player, breaking out of home borders. It fought a ferocious anti-terror war in Syria and honed its fighting skills.

When it comes to its arsenal, it is fully filled with long, mid, and short-range missiles that are yet to be used for anti-Israeli strikes. 

Hezbollah is the world’s most heavily armed non-state actor, and has been described as “a militia trained like an army and equipped like a state.” 

According to Israeli sources, Hezbollah held around 15,000 rockets and missiles on the eve of the 2006 Lebanon War, firing nearly 4,000 at Israel over the 33-day war. Hezbollah has since expanded its rocket arsenal, perhaps to more than 200,000 missiles. 

In May 2006, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah explained that “the purpose of our rockets is to deter Israel from attacking Lebanese civilians…The enemy fears that every time he confronts us, whenever there are victims in our ranks among Lebanese civilians, this will lead to a counter-barrage of our rockets, which he fears."

Hezbollah has the same man leading it today, as well as the same commanders, though some of them assassinated over the past years. But it is robust.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said two months ago that the same men that inflicted defeat on Israel still exist, indeed with more effective, longer-range, and more precise weapons.

The days of low-precision missiles have now gone and the movement’s rockets are now with "pinpoint accuracy."

A large number of missiles combined with high accuracy is a bad news for Israelis who in their threats focus on their power of devastation. But Hezbollah is not Hamas, a movement under siege for 17 years.

Hezbollah has built a deterrence Israelis know about possibly more than anybody. It not only built deterrence, but also built power specifically designed to devastate Israeli cities. 

Once Israelis broaden their strikes, Hezbollah’s blow grow more painful, with Israeli infrastructure the top recipient of strikes. Israelis are escalating against an actor with a "missile capability equivalent to the combined strength of entire European countries" as Israeli media admit. 

If Israelis miscalculate, the outcome will be millions of displaced Israelis, as Hezbollah chief warned last week, and wreaked infrastructure. 

The US, already involved in Ukraine war, may arrive late to save a bleeding Israel.