Desk Report
Published: 17 Feb 2022, 06:08 pm
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah || Photo: Reuters
The leader of Lebanon's
Iran-backed Hezbollah group said for the first time on Wednesday that it has
the ability within Lebanon to convert thousands of rockets into precision missiles
and to produce drones.
"We have been producing
drones in Lebanon for a long time, and whoever wants to buy them, submit an
order," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech to followers.
He said Hezbollah was able to
transform standard rockets into precision missiles with the cooperation of
"experts from the Islamic Republic of Iran". Such production had been
spurred by arch-foe Israel's increased use of drone technology, he said.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a
month-long war in 2006 and have at times in the years since traded fire across
Lebanon's southern border.
There was no immediate Israeli
response to Nasrallah's statements. While the Israeli military outguns
Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel worries that in a future war they could use
precision-guided missiles to knock out parts of its national infrastructure
like ports or power stations.
Israel has said in the past that
it has brought down several Hezbollah drones that had crossed into Israeli air
space. Hezbollah says its increased anti-drone capabilities have led to a
decline in Israeli drones overflights.
Israel last week published the
names of three Lebanese companies that it accused of supplying materials for
Hezbollah's precision-guidance missile project, a move designed to generate
international economic pressure on the Shi'ite Muslim group.
"Hezbollah are endangering
the citizens of Lebanon and the state of Lebanon," Israeli Defence
Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement. Israel, he added, would "act
resolutely in the face of the Iranian precision project operating from the
heart of Lebanon"._Reuters