By J.M. Phelps (One News Now)
Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, could be the first terror group in the world to attain precision-guided missiles. While terrorists in Lebanon remain commonplace, Israel will continue to be forced to take action against a growing threat.
Earlier this month, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a photograph revealing a weapons factory in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. Led by Hezbollah and Iran, the site is reportedly being used for the production of precision missiles.
OneNewsNow spoke with former IDF intelligence officer Miri Eisin, who explains Hezbollah holds an arsenal of more than 150,000 rockets supplied by Iran. She says the rockets have a variety of ranges; and that in an effort to upgrade their capabilities, “[Hezbollah is] now trying to make these rockets more accurate – to be able to target pinpointed spots.”
The facilities are located in the Beqaa Valley, near the Syrian border and in and around the city of Beirut. The former intel officer points out the Iranians are supplying the “know-how” and “hardware” to its terrorist proxy in order to produce a barrage of precision missiles at the factories.
Lebanon and its Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) are neither capable nor willing to counter the actions of Hezbollah, according to Eisin. She says the Lebanese Shiites are approximately half of the population of Lebanon.
“They are the poor in Lebanon, they serve in the LAF, and they support Hezbollah more than they support the government,” the geopolitics expert reveals. “Hezbollah has presented itself as the real protector of Lebanon from Jihadis and infidels and Israel – and it has impacted Lebanese society, government and military.”
“[The terrorist group] plays a double game,” the former intel officer continues, explaining that on one hand, Hezbollah participates as a political party; and on the other hand, they use terror tactics to achieve their aims in the Lebanese local arena.
“If you disagree with their politics,” Eisin says, “they [are inclined] to blow you up – clear and simple.”
According to Eisin, “the differing ethnic and religious groups in Lebanon now call Hezbollah their saviors, which is both ironic and sad.” She also says Hezbollah holds a weapon arsenal which is the eighth largest arsenal in the world, and “they do so for their own purposes … often dominating the local discourse [of the Lebanese army] and defining the actions of the government without any ramifications.”
Contrary to the Lebanese, Israel – according to the former intel officer – remains very active against Hezbollah, performing a number of preemptive strikes against different targets both in Lebanon and in Syria through the years. Hundreds of attacks against Israel have kept the country prepared, taking continuous cautionary steps with both troops and air defense, Eisin explains.
“Neither side wants to have a full-blown confrontation,” she says. “Israel is [conducting] new innovative actions to avoid it.” Some of these actions include faking casualties on the one hand, or openly presenting the targets on the other, to confuse the enemy.
“[Israel is] the only Western power to be taking clear action against [the Hezbollah] threat,” Eisin contends. While Hezbollah is a Lebanese, Arabic-speaking Shiite terror organization that participates in the Lebanese political system, Eisin points to the fact “they also call for the destruction of Israel, for a Shiite religious world revolution, and are funded by the Iranian revolutionary regime.”
And those actions, she argues, should be challenged in a much broader way.
J.M. Phelps is a Christian activist and journalist based in the Southeastern U.S. He is also editor and publisher of the website Lantern of Liberty.
Originally published by One News Now on Thursday, September 12, 2019.
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