Israeli Media: Hezbollah Precision Missiles Proof of Deterrence Failure

Jul 23, 2021

Source: Israeli Media

By Al Mayadeen

Israeli Reserve Forces Major Danny Citrinowicz believes that the military solution cannot succeed in light of Hezbollah’s growing power.

Citrinowicz: Only exploiting the internal situation in Lebanon can erode Hezbollah’s military status.

Israeli Reserve Forces Major Danny Citrinowicz published an article on Israeli website Zman, wherein he said that Hezbollah’s precision missiles are “further proof of the failure deterrence against” it.

He added that the solution to Hezbollah’s increasing power lies in “the ability of the international community and ‘Israel’ to take advantage of the unprecedented internal crisis in Lebanon to fatally damage the organization’s status.”

“Israel believes that this is a strategic threat that may justify a preventive war in the future in order to remove the threat,” according to Citrinowicz. 

He relayed a discussion with a senior official, who stated “the most troubling issue for ‘Israel’ is” Hezbollah’s stockpiling of precision missiles, which have an error margin of only ten meters, calling it a “strategic threat that may justify a preventive war in the future.” 

The Reserve Force Major adds that “one understands that in practice,” “Israel accepted, despite the warnings and despite the threats and despite the revelations, the existence of a ‘precision-missile factory’ in Lebanon as a fait accompli,” before moving on to ask “how many missiles does Hezbollah need to arm itself in order to become a critical mass that will ostensibly lead ‘Israel’ to attack Lebanon?”

One of the new realities of the post-2006 war, that “Israel” had to contend with, according to Citrinowicz, was Israeli “reluctance to operate in Lebanon,” because “Israel” knows “that any attack on Hezbollah’s precision-missile infrastructure in Lebanon” will immediately lead to a Hezbollah retaliation that could devolve into “a very difficult war.”

He estimates, according to statements made by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, that “Hezbollah today holds hundreds” of precision missiles, and in a war, it “does not need more than a few dozen” precision missiles “to inflict unprecedented damage to Israel.”

The major added that the “solution” to Hezbollah’s possession of precision missiles no longer lies in military threats, but “in the ability of the international community and ‘Israel’ to take advantage of the unprecedented internal crisis in Lebanon in order to succeed in fatally damaging the organization’s status (or force it to take over Lebanon and pay a very high price).”

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