Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in south Lebanon, after Israel wiped out its top leadership, with a new military command directing rocket fire and the ground conflict, two sources familiar with its operations said.
Hezbollah has been diminished by three weeks of devastating Israeli blows – most notably the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Friends and foes alike are now watching how effectively it resists Israeli troops that have crossed into Lebanon with the stated aim of driving it away from the border.
The Iran-backed group still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles which it has yet to use, four sources familiar with its operations said, despite waves of airstrikes that Israel says has severely depleted its arsenal.
Hezbollah’s command was disrupted for the first few days after Nasrallah’s killing until Shi’ite militants established a new “operations room” 72 hours later, the two sources – a Hezbollah field commander and a source close to the group.
Nasrallah was killed, along with other Hezbollah leaders and an Iranian commander, when Israel located and bombed his deep bunker below Beirut.
The new command centre has kept functioning despite subsequent Israeli attacks, meaning fighters in the south are able to fire rockets and fight according to centrally issued orders, according to the sources, who asked not to be named in order to discuss sensitive matters.
A third source, a senior official close to Hezbollah, said the group was now waging a war of attrition.
Avraham Levine, an analyst with Israeli think-tank Alma, said it should be assumed Hezbollah was “well prepared and waiting” for Israeli troops and that it was no easy target.
“The fact that the chain of command has been damaged does not take away the ability to shoot Israeli communities or try to hit” Israeli forces, Levine told Reuters, describing Hezbollah as “the same powerful terror army we all know.”
Fighters have the flexibility to carry out orders “according to the capabilities of the front,” the Hezbollah field commander said, described the new command as “a narrow circle” in direct contact with the field. It is rare for a Hezbollah field commander to speak to international media.
He said the new command operates in total secrecy and gave no further details about its communications or structure. Hezbollah has not named a new leader after Nasrallah, with the most likely successor also killed. The Shi’ite group’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said this week he supported ceasefire efforts, but said the group’s capabilities were intact.
Another source familiar with Hezbollah’s operations said the group’s dedicated, fixed-line phone network was “essential” to current communications. Sources have said the network survived attacks on the group’s communications in September.
A statement this week signed by the “operations room of the Islamic Resistance” said fighters were resisting incursions and “watching and listening” to Israeli troops where they least expect it – an apparent reference to concealed Hezbollah positions. The statement, the first public acknowledgment of the existence of a new command, did not name its members or say when and in what context it was established.
Hezbollah’s media office did not respond to questions for this story.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
