Israeli counter terrorism expert and former IDF Colonel Miri Eisen says despite the elimination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, the terrorist organization still presents a “clear and present danger” to Israel and the world. Eisen, currently a senior fellow at the international Institute for Counterterrorism, made the remark Sunday afternoon at a Jerusalem Press Club briefing with reporters.
But Israel can, indeed, address that threat, she adds. Watch now.
In explaining her view of where Hezbollah stands following the assassination of its secretary-general on Friday, Hassan Nasrallah, Eisen referred to the military term “C3”, which initially meant “command, control and communications” but has over time evolved into “C4” to include the term “computers” and then became “C4i” to include the term “intelligence.”
Eisen added another “C” — for ‘chaos.’
It is her opinion that Israel created chaos when targeting Hezbollah’s command, control, communications, computers (electronics) and intelligence apparatus.
“It’s not checkmate but it has been a very effective type of attack,” she said, but emphasized there is still a long way to go before Israel wins this war.
“Hezbollah’s arsenal is 10 times what Hamas ever had,” she warned. “Hezbollah still has the backing from the Islamic regime of Iran. They’re going to send in airplanes; maybe they won’t be able to land right now in Beirut, but don’t worry, they’ll be able to land in Damascus International and from there, be trucked in. They can be trucked from Iran through Iraq, through Syria — meaning that the arsenal [lost in Israeli strikes] is going to be given back.
“Israel has not in any way destroyed the arsenal that Hezbollah has built from 2006; we’re in 2024 and so this isn’t about eliminating [Hezbollah] — it’s not a knockout. This isn’t the end of the game.”
Eisen said that ultimately, a ground operation will be needed to deal with Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force special forces. “No mater how many times we attack it you cannot destroy that from the air, both because it is underground — just like Hassan Nasrallah was, and look at what we had to do to be able to take out Hassan Nasrallah.
“We’re not eliminating now — we’re degrading — and they still have a lot of capabilities and out of that, the main immediate threat is the Radwan Force.
“Hezbollah is the one that in July of 2006 kidnapped Israeli soldiers, and this is most definitely a clear and present danger,” she emphasized.
“If the IDF chooses to go in to take care of that immediate threat, that changes the arena because that would enable a clearer voice from anybody to be able to say that the Israelis who live up north, the 70,000 who are officially dislocated and the additional thousands of those who have moved, who be able to move back home.”
