Hezbollah, the best armed militia in the world

Hezbollah, the best armed militia in the world

Israel has one of the most powerful and sophisticated armies in the world, and an arsenal including nuclear weapons. It also has one of the largest militaries relative to its population, which is slightly less than 10 million inhabitants: almost 170,000 active-duty soldiers. By contrast Spain, with a population of almost 49 million, had fewer than 117,000 regular troops in 2022, according to official data. Added to Israel’s standing army are 465,000 reservists who can be called up in the event of war, of whom 360,000 have already been mobilized in the almost 12 months of the Gaza conflict. The military capacity of the Lebanese Shia party-militia Hezbollah cannot even remotely compare with that of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is not an insignificant enemy, however. The data on its arsenal are partial and, in many cases, come from calculations based on information from Israel and its main ally, the United States, so they may not be precise. They do though provide an idea of why many experts consider Hezbollah to be the best-armed non-state actor in the world, with the backing of Iran, but also of Syria. It even stocks medium- and long-range missiles in its warehouses, capable of hitting the entirety of Israel’s territory and its vital infrastructure, if they manage to get past Israel’s Iron Dome anti-aircraft defences. On Wednesday, Hezbollah targeted the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence services in the Tel Aviv region with a ballistic missile, which was intercepted.

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