by Ayman Ahmed (News & Analysis, Crescent International Vol. 53, No. 8, Rabi' al-Awwal, 1445)
To understand why Israel will not survive another war with Hizbullah, a visit to the Mleeta museum in South Lebanon is imperative. Nestled in cedar trees, it is located in the mountainous area about 30 kms southeast of Saida. The museum represents the triumph of Islamic resistance over zionist barbarism. More particularly, it depicts Israel’s defeat in the war of 2006.
Officially opened in May 2010, it displays Israeli tanks, jeeps, helicopter parts, bombs, weapons and other Israeli army equipment captured from the zionists or destroyed during the 33-day war in the summer of 2006. The display of destroyed Israeli equipment is a powerful reminder of the crushing defeat inflicted on the zionists who were forced to flee with their collective tail between their legs.
The museum was created in memory of Hizbullah fighters who, armed with faith, endurance and free will, confronted and defeated the biggest military machine in West Asia. The zionist invaders were driven out of most of South Lebanon except Shebaa Farms.
What is most striking about the museum is a huge map inside the main hall with the precise coordinates of strategic assets of Israel. These include Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor, the chemical weapons factories in Haifa as well as important military installations.
The importance of the map cannot be over-emphasized. Here is why. In the 2006 war, Hizbullah was able to destroy a secret Israeli military base that was used for monitoring communications of the Islamic resistance. The zionists thought was carefully guarded secret and its location was known to only a handful of military personnel in Israel. By hitting it with missiles and destroying it, Hizbullah delivered a stunning message: nothing is beyond the reach of the Islamic resistance.
By displaying the coordinates of Israel’s military installations, Hizbullah has served notice that should Israel blunder into launching another war of aggression against the Islamic resistance, there will be a huge price to pay. The zionist entity will not survive. This is not speculation.
The Israeli army’s own assessment carried out in May 2022, concluded that Hizbullah missiles would kill 300 Israelis in the first nine days of battle. This is clearly an attempt to downplay the casualty figures. Given the number of missiles in Hizbullah’s arsenal, around 1,500 missiles would land in Israel per day.
Despite Israel’s much-vaunted US-supplied $1 billion Iron Dome, its interception rate even in the most ideal conditions would be 70 percent. That means 30 percent of the missiles will get through. In a real war situation, more missiles get through because no system, however sophisticated, can work at maximum capacity. The Iron Dome has not achieved anywhere near the 70 percent success rate. Hizbullah missiles would cause havoc in the zionist entity.
Further, during the 2006 war, Hizbullah possessed only a few thousand Katyusha rockets whose range was limited. Today, its arsenal consists of at least 150,000 missiles including many that are long-range and can hit any part of Israel.
Not surprisingly, the Israeli army assessment concluded that during the 2006 war, the number of Israeli military targets available to Hizbullah was around 287. Today, this number is in the thousands; the resistance group will be able to hit hundreds of Israeli targets per week.
In early August, the illegitimate zionist entity’s defence minister Yoav Gallant ago had threatened to strike “every meter” of Lebanon and return it “to the Stone Age.” Hizbullah Secretary General, Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah responded to these threats in a speech on August 14. He said that the Islamic resistance can also “return Israel to the Stone Age” if it so chooses.
The speech was delivered to commemorate the 17th anniversary of Israel’s defeat in southern Lebanon. It was the second humiliating retreat for the zionists, marking the end of the 2006 war. Israel’s first retreat occurred in May 2000 under relentless Hizbullah pressure. The zionists fled much of southern Lebanon including the Khiam concentration camp where Hizbullah fighters, Palestinians and Lebanese civilians were held in horrific conditions undergoing torture.
Seyyed Nasrallah said: “We cannot deny that Israel is capable of returning Lebanon to the Stone Age. With the air force they have, the missiles they have, their artillery, and their US backing, they can do that. But this is not new … what is new is what Lebanon can do … what the resistance can do. This is what Israel’s leadership knows well, but tries to distract from … in the media.”
The warning was delivered amid heightened tensions along Israel-Lebanon border. Hizbullah has been alarmed by zionist excavations to erect a wall, especially in the northern most area of the town of Ghajar. The zionists went further: they illegally annexed Ghajar in July.
The town is Lebanese territory and lies to the south east of Shebaa Farms, illegally occupied by the zionists since June 1967. In May 2000, when the occupation army was driven out of much of southern Lebanon, the zionists did not vacate Shebaa Farms.
It has been a sore point for Lebanon, especially for Hizbullah ever since. The UN 2000 Armistice Line acts as a dividing line between Israel and Lebanon, driving east toward the small Lebanese town of Kafr Qala. An Israeli military post stands a few yards from the dividing line. Zionist occupiers’ big guns are menacingly pointed toward the town, directly opposite a girls’ school.
Frustrated by the lack of UN action, indeed refusal, to get the zionists to vacate the Shebaa Farms, Hizbullah took pro-active steps last April. It erected an outpost in the occupied Shebaa Farms area. In addition to protests, last July, villagers from southern Lebanon entered occupied Lebanese territory for the first time in years. This was done in the presence of and with backing of the Lebanese army. In the past, the Lebanese army had acted against the interests of the people.
Seyyed Nasrallah praised the Lebanese army for its action referring to it as “the guarantor of security, peace and stability.” He pointed out that in the past, there were those who wanted the army to act “as they want.”
The Hizbullah leader also vowed that “the resistance will restore all the rest of the occupied border points.” He made special reference to Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba hills, and the town of Ghajar – which still lie under Israeli occupation.
Referring to the internal chaos engulfing the zionist entity, Seyyed Nasrallah said that Israel is now weaker than it was in 2006, and that Hizbullah and the Axis of Resistance are “much stronger”. He went on: “The enemy has moved from attacking and taking the initiative to taking a position of defense.”
It is not the habit of Hizbullah leader to making empty threats. He means what he says and does what he means. The illegitimate zionist entity’s days are numbered. One mistake and that would be the end of this colonial settler enterprise.