Can Israel’s Air Defenses Withstand All-Out War With Hezbollah?

Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group have been exchanging near-daily fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since Oct. 8. The US and France are attempting to broker a diplomatic solution that would end the fighting. Should those negotiations fail, Israeli officials anticipate a full-blown war with the Iran-backed militia.

In the last such conflagration, in 2006, an intensive air campaign by Israel resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, massive displacement and severe damage to homes and infrastructure in Lebanon. Lebanon’s military has no air defense capabilities, apart from a rudimentary air force vastly inferior to Israel’s. Hezbollah possesses surface-to-air missiles, and has used them to knock down Israeli drones over Lebanon.