Hezbollah Brought to Their Knees After Attacks This Week | Are They Still a Threat?

Since the beginning of this war nearly a year ago, Israel has been focused on eradicating Hamas in Gaza. That is where the IDF has had to face thousands of terrorists who have been hiding behind innocent civilians, they have had to deal with a tunnel network hundreds of miles long, and with densely packed population centers spread across large cities. 

At the same time, Israel has been facing what most people have believed to be a much larger threat on their northern border: Hezbollah. While the media has constantly been reporting headlines such as “Israel-Hezbollah are on the brink of war”, in reality, Israel has been waging war with this terrorist organization for months. It simply has not escalated to full combat as of yet.

While Hamas has been a formidable enemy, most have considered Hezbollah to be a much more formidable threat. This is due to the fact that Hezbollah boasts of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles, some of which are much more sophisticated than Hamas’ arsenal, as well as a trained military, including their Radwan Elite fighting force. 

While Hamas can only point rocket launchers at Israel and fire at random, Hezbollah has missiles that can strike nearly any city in Israel. Or can they….? 

In reality, I believe that the threat of Hezbollah may be far simpler for Israel to deal with than Hamas. Not easier, but simpler. 

Let me explain. 

In theory, Hezbollah has approximately 130,000 rockets and missiles, and a highly trained, organized, well-funded, terrorist organization. With that being true, the real question is: why have they not been able to inflict severe damage on Israel before now? One would think that attacking Israel while they are distracted fighting Hamas in Gaza would be the smart move for Hezbollah. 

The reality is that they have tried to launch a major attack against Israel multiple times, but more often than not, they have failed. Other than sporadic rocket barrages and the killing of 12 Israeli children on the northern border, Hezbollah has been largely unsuccessful in their attacks. 

After Israel eliminated Fuad Shukr, one of the most senior commanders in Hezbollah, the terrorist group planned to take revenge. In late August, they planned to launch 6,000 rockets and missiles into Israel all at the same time. Presumably, these would have included smart missiles, capable of reaching deep into Israeli territory and targeting civilian population centers. 

Instead, in a brilliant preemptive strike, 200 Israeli fighter jets swept into Lebanon a mere hour before the planned attack and within minutes disabled nearly all of the launch sites. The best they could do was fire a measly few hundred rockets after facing sweeping humiliation from their foe. 

In addition, the IDF has busied themselves with precision strikes inside Lebanese territory, taking out launch site after launch site, eliminating Hezbollah leadership, and striking key terrorist infrastructure and weapons sites. 

To top it all off, this week, Israel (presumably) simultaneously detonated thousands of Hezbollah pagers, killing and injuring nearly 4,000 terrorists. Besides taking out so many leaders in the organization, Israel has now managed to strike fear into the hearts of the terrorist group, especially after handheld radios also began exploding the next day, killing and injuring even more terrorists. 

Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force has also been severely diminished in numbers by the IDF. Since they have been stationed in southern Lebanon for months, they have been the target of many of Israel’s precision strikes. In addition, a large number of their senior command chain was taken out in the pager and walkie-talkie explosions this week. 

To recap, Hezbollah has now lost: 

• A large number of their missile launch sites
• Senior terrorist leaders
• A large percentage of their elite fighting force
• All confidence and bravery

Adding insult to injury, while Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was broadcasting his response to Israel’s attacks this week via live TV from far below the ground in a secure bunker, Israeli F-35 fighter jets were buzzing the skies of Beirut, breaking the sound barrier and drowning out Nasrallah’s speech. 

While Hezbollah is far from defeated, and they are still a serious enemy on Israel’s northern border, my guess is that they are losing confidence. Israel has shown once again that the enemies of the Jewish nation, the God of Abraham, and the enemies of the Bible are not safe, any time or any place.