Seth J. Frantzman

View from the Golan Heights: Israel prepares to take on Hezbollah

(Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Ain Qana is a pretty pastoral village perched on a hillside in southern Lebanon. On 22 September a large explosion destroyed a building on the edge of the village. It was about 12 miles from the Israeli border. Reports indicated it was a munitions storage linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group.

Hezbollah is navigating a complicated time in Lebanon today. After Beirut’s massive explosion in August, the organisation has come under scrutiny because of its illegal weapons stores across Lebanon. However, the Hezbollah also has members in parliament. In July it accused Israel of killing one of its members in Syria and vowed to respond. What was the Hezbollah member doing in Syria? He was part of the increasing presence of the group in Syria. Iran traffics weapons through Syria to Hezbollah.

This is part of the reality that Israel faces daily on its northern border. Hezbollah, armed and backed by Iran, has more than 100,000 rockets and has been increasing its investments in drones and precision-guided missiles. Israel has also been increasing its investments in high-tech defence systems to counter the threat, including the famed ‘iron dome’ system that shoots down rockets, drones and other threats. Investment in defensive systems is only part of how Israel is preparing for the possibility of a future conflict. It is also readying infantry and armoured units to confront enemy threats.

Israel’s military reforms are all about chiselling down war to its most precise elements

On 23 September I drove up to the Golan Heights in northern Israel. The hills rise from the Sea of Galilee and from a kind of wall of ravines and hillsides that grow towards a plateau. That plateau stretches in the distance toward Damascus in Syria. During the Syrian civil war, one could sit on the Golan Heights and hear the fighting across the border.

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Written by
Seth J. Frantzman

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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