A recent report by Essanews contends that Hezbollah possesses weapons in its arsenal that could pose a serious risk to US warships in the Mediterranean. 

Specifically, the report highlights that the Lebanese Resistance possesses in its arsenal the Russian-produced anti-ship P-800 Oniks missiles. 

The report stipulates that the threats leveled by Hezbollah's Secretary General back in early November against the American warships are far from being empty rhetoric. 

Operational characteristics

The P-800 Oniks, also known as Yakhont, are surface-to-surface supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles capable of attaining speeds of Mach 2.5. 

The missile is around 9 meters long and weighs almost four tons. Its warhead in itself weighs 200kg. 

It is also equipped with fire-and-forget guidance technology (meaning it could self-adjust to take out the target without being in line with it during launch). 

Read more: US Centcom commander to visit 'Israel' on Friday amid escalation

Furthermore, the missile is immune to electronic countermeasures (ECM), and is capable of overriding defensive countermeasures that work to disrupt the missile's targeting system. 

The missile's technology also enables it to fly in relative stealth, as it flies in a sea-skimming, low altitude trajectory close to the water's surface to avoid radar and infrared detection.

Context

Back in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned the purpose of the deployment of the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier. Putin stipulated if the US hoped to scare the Lebanese with this move, it would change nothing because there are people in Lebanon who do not fear the US. 

A few weeks later, during his long-awaited speech, the Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Nasrallah warned the US saying, "These fleets that you are threatening [us] with, we have prepared the appropriate response for them." 

A message to the #US fleets in the Mediterranean waters deployed to threaten and destabilize the region by yours truly, #Hezbollah SG Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah. pic.twitter.com/qRBpKxuVPS

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 3, 2023

Russia had supplied the P-800 Oniks missiles to Syria during the early years of the war against Syria. They are expected to have been transferred to Hezbollah's arsenal through Syria, according to the report.

Syria's possession of the P-800 Oniks has long raised Israeli concerns. In 2013, the Israeli occupation's air force conducted an air bombardment on Latakia in an effort to neutralize Syria's arsenal of the missile. 

Read more: Lebanese Resistance continues to target Israeli positions on border

Back in the 2006 war, the Lebanese Resistance had managed to target the Israeli Sa’ar 5-class corvette INS "Hanit" warship, which had been enforcing a maritime blockade on the Lebanese coast. 

Back then Hezbollah had employed two Chinese-manufactured C-802A subsonic missiles that the group had acquired through Iran, according to a report by the CSIS Missile Defense Project.