The head of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, informed a gathering of officers on Thursday that preventing the procurement of weapons by Hezbollah from the Islamic Republic was now a top priority of his forces.
“Now in Lebanon, we are going to prevent any possibility of weapon transfers from Iran, in light of the capabilities we’ve now degraded from Hezbollah,” Bar told attendees during a meeting at the Tel Nof Airbase.
"This is a mission that is becoming a top priority, because the confidence of Nasrallah, Hezbollah, and their ability to recover from what happened to them a few days ago depends on the open pipeline coming from Iran," he added.
The comments come as Israel’s intelligence services have determined the Islamic Republic has significantly increased its handover of military materials to its Lebanese allies over the last year, making the militia the most armed non-state actor in the world.
The reported $700 million per year that Tehran spends on Hezbollah has resulted in a stockpile of munitions estimated to contain as many as 200,000 projectiles of fourteen various types.
In addition to their missile resources, the Shia proxy group is known to operate a large fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles in both attack and reconnaissance configurations.
Hezbollah is also believed to be in possession of Russian-made air defense systems.
Bar discussed the potential for a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in his presentation, saying, “we are preparing, shoulder to shoulder with the Northern Command, for the entry of a ground maneuver.” This statement came the day after IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told several soldiers that “boots will enter enemy territory.”
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