“If Hezbollah crosses the threshold of the quantity or quality of accurate weapons, we will have to act against it. It is a difficult decision, but we will not be able to escape it,” said Brigadier General Eran Niv, head of the Shiloah Brigade (Combat Methods and Innovation in the IDF) .
Defense Minister Bnei Gantz threatens Nasrallah, yesterday // Photo: Communications Defense Minister
In recent years, the IDF has invested heavily in preventing Hezbollah from equipping itself with precision missiles and rockets: Much of the airstrikes attributed to the Syrian Air Force have been aimed at thwarting or disrupting the smuggling of precision weapons into Lebanon. Precision kits These kits include a small computer, a GPS device and missiles for navigating the missile, and in a relatively simple operation precise rockets can be converted using them.
Israel has never gone to war to prevent the armament of enemy states and organizations (except for nuclear weapons). However, senior officials believe that it must draw clear red lines for itself in connection with Hezbollah’s precision project, because this is a conventional threat that could reach unprecedented proportions. The officials specified an exact amount of 500-1,000 missiles as the upper limit that will oblige Israel to take action.
“The right timing for action against the precision project must be examined and defined, with the understanding that it could lead to a broad escalation,” said former security chief Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amos Yadlin, now head of the Institute for National Security Studies. “The Iranian, and in particular by Hezbollah, which can cause widespread civilian damage in Israel and paralyze vital forces, is a strategic threat that must not be allowed to develop.”
Yadlin believes that if Hezbollah accelerates its intensification, Israel will be required to consider a preemptive strike to deprive it of its capability. Other sources believe that Israel should not initiate such a move that would certainly lead to war, but that it should consider “seizing an opportunity” for a point-by-point escalation on the northern border to undermine this ability of Hezbollah as well.