Israeli Army: Hezbollah Owns 210-Km Range Missiles

Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
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Israeli Army: Hezbollah Owns 210-Km Range Missiles

Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)
Hezbollah displays an Iranian-made Fajr 5 missile at a military parade in southern Lebanon. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah owns more than 100,000 rockets and missiles of various types, the Israeli Army said in a report published on Sunday.

It revealed that the Lebanese party has expanded its rocket arsenal since the 2006 war and remains the closest threat to the Israeli regime's internal front.

The report was published at the end of Israel’s largest military drills, dubbed Chariots of Fire, and which simulate a scenario of war operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, including a ground invasion.

It said the number of missiles in Hezbollah's missile arsenal has increased dramatically since the second war against Lebanon in 2006, when the group possessed around 15,000 rockets and missiles, firing nearly 4,000 at Israel over the 34-day conflict.

The report revealed that most of Hezbollah's rockets and missiles arsenal consists of Katyusha missiles, weighting 20 kg with a range of 40 km, adding that on the eve of the 2006 war, the Shiite party owned between 6 and 7 thousands similar missiles, mostly provided by Iran.

Also, the group owns the Fajr 3 missile, with a range of 43 km and a warhead weighing 45 kg, and the more advanced Fajr 5 missile, with a range of 75 km and a warhead weighing 90 kg.

The report added that the Lebanese party possesses the "Raad-2" and "Raad-3" missiles, which are the Iranian version of the Russian "FROG-7" missile, capable of targeting the depths of Israel.

It said Hezbollah and Iran are trying to increase the accuracy of advanced missiles, such as the Zelzal-1 missile, which has a range of 125 to 160 kilometers and a warhead weighing 600 kg, and the Zelzal-2, with a range of 210 km and a warhead weighing 600 kg.

Hezbollah's missile arsenal also includes the Fateh-110 missile, a short-range ballistic missile that appears to be a different version of Zelzal-2, with a range of 250 to 300 km and a warhead weighing 500 kg.

The Israeli Maariv newspaper said on Sunday that Hezbollah is preparing for the next war with 1,500 missiles landing in Israel per day, estimating that 300 Israelis are likely to be killed in the first nine days of fighting.

The report came while the Israeli army revealed that its soldiers stationed on the northern border fired warning shots and drove away a group of Lebanese who approached the joint border fence.

A military source said that the Lebanese were seen suspiciously approaching the security fence separating the two countries, with the intention of crossing the border. It added that the Lebanese then stopped and returned back.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.