Politics Hezbollah anticipates possible "harsh attack" by Israel

After the deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Lebanese Hezbollah is waiting for a potentially serious attack by Israel. "We have been on standby for months and are on the lookout for any attack by the enemy," the German Press Agency was told by Hezbollah circles. "This is nothing new, we are in constant readiness." According to the circles, a possibly "hard attack" is now expected.

Lebanese media reported that the militia had evacuated around 100 of its posts in suburbs south of the capital Beirut in anticipation of a possible Israeli attack. Hezbollah is particularly active in these areas. Israel's army could also attack here if it wanted to launch a particularly heavy and devastating counter-attack.

In addition to the almost daily shelling in the border area and deeper inside the country, Israel's army has also killed Hezbollah commanders on several occasions in recent months. In a southern district of Beirut, the second highest-ranking leader of the Islamist Hamas abroad, Saleh al-Aruri, was also killed in a suspected Israeli drone attack in January.

Heavy fighting in recent months

In recent months, Hezbollah and Israel's army have been engaged in the heaviest fighting since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. A further escalation of the fighting into an all-out war would have unforeseeable consequences for the region, with pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen also likely to step up their attacks on Israel and its most important ally, the USA.

Hezbollah has an arsenal of around 150,000 missiles and drones and is considered even more powerful than Hamas, against which Israel is fighting in the Gaza Strip. In the event of war, Hezbollah could fire thousands of rockets towards Israel every day. A kind of hail of rockets could overwhelm Israel's missile defense. According to some estimates, Hezbollah is over 40,000 to 50,000 fighters strong. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, however, has put their number at 100,000.

According to the Israeli military, at least eleven people between the ages of 10 and 20 were killed when a rocket hit the village of Madschd al-Schams on the Golan Heights. The Israeli armed forces blamed Hezbollah for the attack on the village, which is inhabited by members of the Druze religious community. The Shiite militia, however, categorically rejected the accusations that it had attacked the village.