Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and its fighters remain defiant, even expressing confidence, despite escalating Israeli attacks on its top commanders and missile arsenal that culminated Friday with the assassination of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah officers say in interviews that they have restored 70% to 80% of their communications network after temporarily losing contact with field officers in charge of firing missiles.
They also say the most powerful precision-guided, longer-range elements of Hezbollah’s missile arsenal remain intact. And Hezbollah will soon be ready to fight back “full throttle” with bombardments and can now, in any event, repel any Israeli ground invasion, the officers say.
“Our war hasn’t started yet, but it’s [about] to start, and we are going to show the world what we are capable of doing,” says a Hezbollah missile specialist, who gives the pseudonym Hassan.
“All red lines are gone” after the assassination of Mr. Nasrallah, he says. “We are going to fight this war without any rules.”
“We have a long way to go; we have a long war to fight,” says Hassan, a Hezbollah veteran of 23 years, when asked why the militia is still using mostly older rockets instead of the most powerful and precise weapons believed to be in its estimated prewar arsenal.
“We cannot show them everything the first day. We cannot drop it on them the first day. But you’ll see. ... We know exactly what we are doing,” he says.