Hezbollah may have reworked Israeli missile for use against 'Israel'
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Meaning "diamond" in Arabic or Persian, the guided missile may be launched from ground vehicles, drones, helicopters, or shoulder-fired tubes without requiring a direct line of sight.
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A member of the Lebanese resistance, Hezbollah, fires Iranian Almas-3 ATGM. (Military Media)
According to The New York Times, Israeli sources have divulged that the Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah, is firing a sophisticated missile that was reverse-engineered from an Israeli weapon acquired during the war of 2006.
Hezbollah forces are thought to have taken the original Israeli Spike anti-tank missiles and transferred them to Iran for cloning, according to Israeli and Western officials and weapons specialists.
After 18 years, Hezbollah is shooting rebranded Almas missiles with enough precision and strength to represent a substantial threat to Israeli forces, as admitted by Israeli experts.
The missiles have a range of up to 16 km and use modern guidance seekers to track and lock on targets.
Meaning "diamond" in Arabic, the guided missile may be launched from ground vehicles, drones, helicopters, or shoulder-fired tubes without requiring a direct line of sight. It is a top-attack missile, which means that its ballistic trajectory allows it to engage tanks from directly above rather than from the side, hitting them where they are thinly armored and vulnerable.
Almas missiles have at least three known variations, each of which improves on the previous one. In June, Alma researchers in "Israel" reported that Hezbollah looked to be employing a fourth, newer model that, among other enhancements, returned crisper photographs of its flight to its controllers.
The Almas may carry two types of warheads, according to CAT-UXO, a munitions awareness organization. One can detonate in two stages, which makes it easier to penetrate armor. The other is a fuel-air bomb that detonates into a blaze.
Despite Hezbollah's engagement along the northern front, in the war, since October 8, 2023, and the launching of hundreds of daily rocket attacks against Israeli occupation sites and newly established positions and gatherings of its forces, Hezbollah did not use the Almas anti-tank missile prior to January 28 last year when it targeted surveillance equipment at the Ras al-Naqoura maritime site, marking a qualitative shift in the course of the war.
'Israel' shocked by Hezbollah's ownership, usage of Almas missiles
Hezbollah's attacks have become more complex and have begun to reach deep into "Israel", Foreign Policy quoted the head of the Israeli Alma Research Center as saying in May this year, expressing fear over not knowing where this matter is heading.
"We’re familiar with the technology, but not with the fact that it’s in the hands of Hezbollah," Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli military intelligence analyst said, referring to Hezbollah's usage of the Almas missile.
Despite "Israel's" strong anti-air system, capable of intercepting both short- and long-range missiles, it lacks defense against precision anti-tank missiles like the Almas, used in an “unprecedented” manner by Hezbollah to target sites along the border.
"We don’t have an answer to the anti-tank," Zehavi said.
