Hezbollah digs in deep

[bemildred]

Mostly for the speculations about arms and dispositions and so on. I have seen in a couple other places statements that they have serious ATW and SAMs and so on, and other modern light weapons.

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To this must be added up to 20,000 veterans and well-armed militia. Its potential overall strength numbers over 50,000 if party workers, relatively untrained supporters and the potential assistance from the well-armed gunmen of the Syrian-controlled PFLP-GC (Popular Front of Liberation of Palestine - General Command) and the militia of the SNSP (Syrian National Socialist Party), operating in the Marjeyoun area of Lebanon, are taken into account.

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They are believed to have significant quantities of Russian AT-5 Spandrel, AT-3 Sagger, a few AT-10 and a number of US TOW anti-tank guided missiles. Huge numbers of Russian RPG-7 and the Iranian-built version, the Saghegh, with a lethal 80mm tandem HEAT warhead, 82mm B-I0 and 107mm B-11 recoilless anti-tank guns, supplement 60mm, 82mm and 120mm mortars, vast numbers of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines of Chinese, Russian, Italian and Iranian origin.

Plentiful quantities of explosives and a proven ability to produce highly effective improvised explosive devices (IEDs - booby-traps and road side bombs) round out the inventory. It also has SA-7 and perhaps some SA-14-man portable surface-to-air missiles and twin 23mm ZSU anti-aircraft guns in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

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Hezbollah has established a large number of cleverly placed and well-defended fire positions and bunkers along the border with Israel and every road north is mined, sowed with IEDs and covered by numerous possible ambushes. The upper Bekaa Valley will only be taken at considerable risk to the Israeli ground forces and only the use of overwhelming military force will provide any certainly of success.

Asia Times