Did Hezbollah Use Its New Missile System? How did It Mislead Israel?

The first outcome of the Quneitra Martyrs Operation in occupied Shebaa Farms was the resolution of one of the intended plots behind the delay of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s stance

Ibrahim Nasserdine

Al-Diyar Newspaper

What the diplomatic delegations in Beirut feared, took place and the worst scenario according to it, fell: a "clean" operation from all standards". It was a painful response on a military convoy in occupied Lebanese territories, and the result was not merely that the resistance returned the "ball" to Israel's "court", but it also scored a goal against Israel. Now the latter could either accept to return to the old "rules of engagement" that were before the Quneitra crime or hold the responsibility of any dramatic deterioration not on the Lebanese level, but on the regional level.

According to diplomatic sources in Beirut, these briefs were specified in the last couple of hours or will be specified in the coming few hours due to escalated high-level diplomatic calls between Moscow and Washington, in attempt to contain the situation and convince Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to bear the painful "slap" and consider it a "normal" and expected response to his idiocy in Quneitra. Amid that, there was a firm Iranian stance that the US Administration was indirectly informed about, which reassured that Tehran will be concerned of responding to any war which Israel could wage in the region.

Awaiting repercussions, military and security analyses on this operation top everything else. According to experts in military affairs, Hezbollah once again revealed its strong capability to control the battlefield, and again unveiled the fragility of the Israeli Army's deterrence, as the timing of the operation came in the peak of a security and military apparatuses mobilization in Israel; and as all the effort was focused on knowing where, when, and how will Hezbollah respond. All these measures and predictions did not change anything on ground.

The resistance chose the location, timing, and target with clear intelligence and military excellence, which would cause a scandal in Israel for the PM and the entire security and military system, and harsh questions about the success of Hezbollah's intelligence. More legitimate questions will be asked by the settlers, but they can be summarized in one question: "If the soldiers were incapable of protecting themselves, how will they be able to protect us if Sayyed Nasrallah decided to send his soldiers to Galilee?"

According to these sources, the coming days will unveil Hezbollah's veteran security which occupied the Israelis with false alarms on the borders for the past couple of days. Its fighters succeeded several times in manipulating Israel's electronic system and occupying Israel's locations and patrols in looking for "delusive" penetrators in certain areas of the settlements.

While preparations on ground were in full swing to strike accurately, some delusive security maneuvers were taking place in several strategic spots in Golan, in addition to sending misleading information to the Israelis through communication devices, leading to the gathering of this "good catch" in the aimed location. The clear brief that one comes out with here is that the resistance established with facts that its security and military body is clean from the "poisons" of the limited Israeli violations and that the Israeli security apparatuses are back to their "blindness".

The basic information about the operation are still missing something due to Israel's occupation in examining the types of missiles which Hezbollah used in destroying the Israeli convoy, as the size of destruction that the Israeli patrol came under supports Israel's fears and confirms its doubts over Hezbollah's possession of the advanced Russian Kornet missile system, and this means a strong turn in the balance of power on ground in any possible confrontation. But is this Israeli "fear" in place?

Of course it is justified, and there is no place here for exaggeration, according to the sources, as Israel is very well aware of what it would be facing if it made sure that this type of missiles was used in the operation. It would then understand that Hezbollah wanted to send a double message. The first is that the resistance will not permit any change in the "rules of the game", and the second is that what happened was the first practical trial to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah words as he allowed his fighters to reveal the first sample of the party's unconventional weapons. But why is this weapon considered unconventional?

It is very simple, this missile system solved the critical problem that defects the Russian missiles, as the old type requires the rifleman to stay in his position while pointing the laser at the goal until the missile strikes it. In other words, this types restricts the freedom of the fighter until the moment the strike hits, which puts him under the risk of being exposed. As for the new system, the goal could be specified without having to wait there, hence, the fighter can strike and escape.

What makes this missile more significant than its first version which Hezbollah used in July 2006, is that this new system is capable of firing two missiles at the same time, it is also more accurate, has a longer-distance, and is much easier to operate. Moreover, a missile can be fired with an effective finite from around 150 meters up to tens of kilometers. This gives enough answers on how the resistance groups were able to fire missiles and leave the area, for by possessing this new weapon there would be no need to take a risk and approach the firing spot as the margin of accuracy that reaches ten kilometers helped the resistance fighters drill and take advantage of this factor.

The weapon's directing and shooting system is automatic , and it is directed through a laser light of the third generation. This automatic system is known in the military science to help trace and strike the goal before the enemy is aware of the laser light, even if he was supplied with laser warning systems.

This raises the ability to make accurate strikes, especially as this system has an additional option which allows striking two goals at the same time, and is capable of penetrating shields that has a thickness of 1,300 millimeters, and carry seven kilograms of high-explosives. Moreover, there are two types of these launchers, one carrying eight rockets and another carrying 16 rockets. Most importantly, this system has a high capability of jam resistance and is not effected by any attempt to misdirect or electronically sabotage the missiles. This explains the resistance's success in violating all the security measures taken on the other side of the borders.

Furthermore, the same sources indicate that the speed of the missile exceeds the speed of sound, and this has two benefits, the first is that it helps minimize the time between the launching of the rocket and its crash, and the second is that this high speed increases the level of penetrating the goal, especially the armors and reinforcements. What Israel fears the most here is that long-range systems mean that the missile is capable of clashing and attacking unmanned aircrafts from a safe spot.

So is it the Kornet-EM that Hezbollah used yesterday? Or is it some other kind of missiles? A question that the resistance will not answer for free, and this is Israel's problem after having received this harsh field "message".

The important thing is that this weapon has proved its efficiency, and most importantly Netanyahu has once again failed in his test of power with Sayyed Nasrallah. His military and security leadership could not "protect" what he thought was a "tactical" achievement in Quneitra for a couple of days.

As for the leader of the resistance, his men succeeded in making a strategic achievement only in a couple of days, after he had gathered them, set the required timeframe, and the high quality characteristics that will allow him to impose the "rules of engagement" in the frame of the "equation": "Did you see it drown?"

Translated by: Sara Taha Moughnieh