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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Nasrallah tightens his belt |
| 2017-02-14 |
| [IsraelTimes] Hezbollah in 2017 is nothing like the group that fought against Israel in 2006. It is an army in every way. It operates artillery forces and UAVs, gathers combat (and non-combat) intelligence, and cooperates with other armies, including apparently the Russian Air Force in Aleppo, Syria. Led by firebrand ... firebrandsare noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... holy man Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah has extraordinary military capabilities by any measure. According to Israel, the group has more than 100,000 rockets in its arsenal, together with strategic weapons such as anti-ship missiles, with reserves of elite commando troops and impressive anti-aircraft capabilities. But Hezbollah’s challenges have also shifted sharply from 11 years ago. First, Israel is not its top priority at the moment, as shown by what seems to be reduced motivation to engage in terror attacks against Israel over the short term. Hezbollah is spread out over two countries -- Syria and Leb -- and is engaged in combat on almost every battlefield in Syria. Hezbollah, which allocated at least one-third of its combat force to Syria, has lost more than 1,700 of its people in the fighting there, according to some estimates. For comparison’s sake, the number of casualties that it suffered during the Second Leb War is estimated at 650 to 700. Approximately 6,000 of its people were maimed in Syria. The war effort is also putting a strain on Hezbollah’s coffers, as it tries to keep up its social welfare programs and provide for the families of those killed and maimed on top of everything else. So Hezbollah is doing what any other army would do -- tightening its belt, according to Israeli officials, who monitor the terror group’s movements closely. Hezbollah is consolidating various Death Eater units and trying to decrease the enormous operational expenditures resulting from the fighting in Syria, and at times tries to do something that Israeli army officials will recognize: reduce service conditions. That’s not to say Hezbollah is neglecting preparedness for another war with Israel, even as it refuses to draw down in Syria. Hezbollah troops are positioned around Aleppo in northern Syria, as well as on the Syrian Golan Heights in the south, just across the Israeli border. Recent victories by the Syrian army have led to a relative calm from rebel groups, and its main rival, the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... , is on its heels thanks to the US-led coalition’s bombing campaign. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |