Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement ride a vehicle carrying a Fajr 5 missile during the annual parade in Lebanon’s southern town of Nabatiyeh. (Photo by AFP)

Tel Aviv, July 1 (RHC)-- Amid rising tensions along the border between Lebanon and the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories, a former Israeli military official has described the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement as one of the five top superpowers in terms of the number of rockets it possesses.

Ram Aminach, a retired brigadier general who served as a financial adviser to the Israeli army, noted that “the Israeli public does not understand the extent of Hezbollah's threats as it has a large stockpile of rockets and is considered one of the five superpowers, alongside the United States, China, Russia, and Germany.”

Aminach underlined that Israel cannot confront Hezbollah without facing the entire Lebanon.  The remarks come as Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging deadly fire since early October last year, shortly after the regime launched a genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip following a surprise operation by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group.

Hezbollah has vowed to keep up its retaliatory attacks as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its Gaza war, which has so far killed at least 37,834 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 86,858 others.

Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said they do not want a war with Israel but if it happens they are ready.  Lebanon’s Grand Shia Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan says Hezbollah has a massive arsenal of missiles of different types, warning that the resistance movement would fire up to half a million missiles toward the Israeli-occupied territories in case of a new war on Lebanon. 

“In case of an open war between Lebanon and Israel, the latter should expect the launch of some 500,000 missiles [from southern Lebanon into the occupied lands]. The destructive power of these missiles can send the occupying regime back to 70 years ago,” Qabalan noted.