Prepared Israel gives Hezbollah yet another beating

Hezbollah fails to hit ‘strategic’ target Israeli media identify as Mossad and IDF military intelligence HQ

The Hezbollah attack was intended to take revenge for the Israeli killing of Fuad Shukr. Photo: Hezbollah handout

Hussain Abdul-Hussain

Asia Times

After a series of impressive intelligence and military operations that culminated in taking out Hezbollah’s top military chief Fuad Shukr, Israel on Sunday gave Hezbollah yet another beating by suppressing a major retaliation operation that the Iran-backed militia had planned from south Lebanon against the Jewish state.

Hezbollah was locked and loaded, ready to attack, deep inside Israel, a “strategic military target to be announced.” Launch time was 5 am, local time. At 4:45, however, 100 Israeli fighter jets started pounding — simultaneously — dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers that had moved into position to start the offensive.

The Israeli fighter jets took out most, but not all, of Hezbollah’s attack assets. Explosive drones and Katyusha rockets still crossed into Israeli airspace, prompting Israeli air defenses — the Iron Dome — to go into action and shoot down almost all projectiles. After all was said and done, only two images emerged showing damage in Israel:

• a Hezbollah rocket that exploded in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and

• a chicken coop that was shown burning, prompting the world to mock the Lebanese Islamist militia and call its attack “Operation Grilled Chicken.”

During the first hour of the escalation, Hezbollah released its first statement, which seemed to have been prepared before the  operation. “We shall exact revenge on the criminals,” the statement opened.

At dawn, “along the lines of a primary response to the Zionist aggression on the southern suburb of Beirut that led to the martyrdom of the great jihadist commander Fuad Shukr,” the statement added, “the mujahideen of the Islamic resistance launched an aerial strike using a big number of drones aimed deep into the Zionist entity toward a strategic military target that will be announced later.”

Hezbollah also said in the advance statement that its attack on the special Israeli target, using explosive drones, was coupled with its launch of missiles on Israeli military barracks and Iron Dome batteries.

Tactically, the Hezbollah offensive was designed with a reversed sequence when compared with the April 14 Iranian attack on Israel. The Iranians sent in the drones first, hoping to engage and preoccupy Israel’s air defenses, after which they would fire their ballistic missiles to hit their targets inside the Jewish state. Hezbollah, however, used its missiles to jam the Iron Dome, then sent in the drones to hit deep into Israel.

But thanks to Israel’s preemptive strike, which took out what some estimated to have been 1,500 missiles before they even launched, only 320 of Hezbollah’s missiles took off – allowing Iron Dome to shoot them down easily and deal with the drones.

Hezbollah’s attack was a flop. To save face, the Iran-backed militia quickly issued a statement saying that it concluded “the first stage” of its operation, listing 11 military targets that it had hit. The Lebanese group also produced a publicity video, using Google map images, to mark the targeted spots.

That Hezbollah cited the number 320 rockets, most likely exaggerated, suggests that the militia was trying to show that, despite Israeli preemption, it still managed to attack. The number 320 is relatively small, given that on many days, Hezbollah’s projectiles on Israel reach 150. The militia also found it compelling to say that all its drones “crossed” without being intercepted, as planned, and struck their targets.

Missing from Hezbollah’s statement was any mention of the “strategic target” that was the goal of the whole operation.

According to Israeli media, Hezbollah was trying to strike the headquarters of the Mossad and the military intelligence of the Israeli Defense Forces, known as Unit 8200. Perhaps, when the Lebanese militia realized that its plans had gone sideways, it issued a statement in which it labeled the operation as “the first stage” of avenging the killing of Shukr.

To make up for its failure, Hezbollah reverted to propaganda. Its chief, Hassan Nasrallah, delivered a speech in which he spun information to depict his flop as a victory. Hamas gave its ally a hand and described the failed attack as a “slap on the face” of Israel.

With a gag order still in place, the amount of damage that Hezbollah inflicted on Israel has yet to be assessed, even though it is unlikely that it was significant.

What we know so far is that Israel’s intelligence and military prowess has beaten Hezbollah one more time, denying it space to move rocket launchers and strike as it had planned.

The inevitable war between the two should scare Hezbollah and make it reconsider its position by accepting a ceasefire with Israel, even without a ceasefire in Gaza. Hezbollah should then pull its fighters back from the border with Israel to a distance that allows 110,000 Israelis to return to their homes and live safely there.

If Hezbollah does not learn its lesson from Sunday’s attack, it might be in for more Israeli surprises.