Shaul Goldstein, head of the Israeli Independent System Operation Limited, which manages the infrastructure for Israel's power grid, said that Jerusalem is entirely unprepared for a war with Hezbollah that would likely target the country's power infrastructure.
"We are not ready for a real war. We live in a fantasy world, in my eyes," said Goldstein when he spoke at a conference organized by the Institute for National Security Studies in the southern city of Sderot, located less than a mile from Gaza. Goldstein added that the country would be "uninhabitable" after 72 hours without power.
"You look at all of our infrastructure, the optical fibers, the ports – and I won't go into the sensitive things – we are not in a good place," the CEO confirmed. "If [Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan] Nasrallah decides to paralyze Israel's power grid, he only needs to pick up the phone and call the head of Beirut's power grid, which is [technically] identical to Israel's."
Even United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his assessment that "one rash move – one miscalculation – could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination."
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If that happens "it will be nothing short of a game-changer," said Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. Compared to Hamas, Hezbollah is "a much more formidable fighting force and widely recognized as the most powerful non-state military in the world," he said. "Its involvement would have huge consequences not only for Israel but also for the entire region."
Founded in 1982 by a group of radical Shia clerics amid the Lebanese Civil War, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group has an estimated manpower of roughly 30,000 active-duty fighters and another 20,000 reservists.
Furthermore, the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank warns that the estimated number of active and reserve fighters Hezbollah "likely does not include the thousands of non-combatant workers and volunteers across the country," including women who are not allowed to be official members of Hezbollah but are nonetheless very supportive of the group.
Reports indicated that thousands of fighters from other Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join Hezbollah in its battle with Israel "if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war".
Meanwhile, Reuters noted that Hezbollah likely possesses over 150,000 missiles and rockets of various types and ranges, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, suicide drones that explode upon impact on target and precision missiles that can reach deep within Israel and take out precise targets such as high-ranking individuals and military sites.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging increasingly hostile threats in recent days. Nasrallah warned an invasion of the Galilee (northern Israel) is "still on the table" in the event of war.
For its part, the Israeli army announced that its Northern Command had approved operational plans for war with Lebanon. Lebanese Member of Parliament and Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Moussawi earlier stated that if Israel wants a full-scale war, the Islamic resistance is ready.
"If they want to come to Lebanon, they are welcome. We are waiting for them. 'Ahlan wa Sahlan,' as they say in Arabic," he stated sarcastically. "They can't even manage themselves in Gaza and they want to come here? In Gaza, they are not fighting. They are just bombarding and sending drones. But if they do come, we are anxiously waiting for them. We have made preparations that they can never imagine."
Gantz: Israel can destroy Hezbollah's military in days
Israel's National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz has rhetorically retaliated to Hezbollah's threat, boasting that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) can destroy Hezbollah’s military capabilities in a matter of days. (Related: Israel OKs plans for ALL-OUT WAR in Lebanon to wipe out Hezbollah.)
Gantz announced his counter-warning during the 21st Herzliya Conference at Reichman University.
"We can bring Lebanon completely into the dark, and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days," Gantz said. He added that a major challenge for Israel is to "return the southern and northern residents back to their homes, even at the price of escalation."
Gantz – who has since left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unity war cabinet and rejoined the opposition – said the price to "Israel will be heavy." According to him, his nation needs to back up its institutions and needs to be ready for major incidents of harm to the public.
"We should try to avoid it, but if we need to do it, we cannot be deterred from it. We cannot let Hezbollah keep threats close to the northern border," he noted. "We need to get the residents [of northern Israel] back by Sept. 1." He also emphasized that Israel must work hard with the United States to build up Israel's defenses.
Israeli leaders have for months threatened to "copy-paste" the destruction of Gaza onto Lebanon if Hezbollah did not halt its attacks from the north, which forced the evacuation of some 200,000 settlers.
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The video below released by Hezbollah shows target coordinates inside Israel.
This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Israeli military approves plan for invasion of southern Lebanon and new offensive against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah strikes several Israeli army bases, key defense factory
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