JERUSALEM — With Israel’s stunning capture of the strategically valuable Ali al-Taher ridge in south Lebanon on Sunday, a major Hezbollah and Iran stronghold, the campaign to degrade Tehran’s so-called "Axis of Resistance" suffered a severe blow. While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) triumph is not a death blow, it means that the Iranian-regime-backed Hezbollah terrorist movement lost one of its key offensive bases to plan an invasion of Israel. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center (Alma), told Fox News Digital that "In the past three years Israel has attacked Hezbollah against various areas, for instance, we degraded the amount of rockets and missiles." EXCLUSIVE: ISRAEL SEIZES VAST IRAN TERROR AXIS ARSENAL WITH SURPRISING FOREIGN ORIGINS She noted that the IDF has decimated 90% of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile arsenal.
Zehavi said, "Today Hezbollah is holding between 10,000 to 15,000 rockets, which is much less than what it used to have. Most of the array of sophisticated missiles, accurate missiles and long-range missiles was either eliminated or neutralized." She said, "The capability to launch an invasion of thousands of terrorists into Israel which was the plan, and this was the preparedness three years ago. This capability doesn't exist anymore since the IDF is based in South Lebanon along the borderline, preventing Hezbollah from coming back to those places." In late August, Alma released a widely read analysis on: "Hezbollah – Situation Assessment: From a Large-Scale Terrorist Army to a Persistent Dispersed Threat." Zehavi, who resides in northern Israel and has experienced Hezbollah’s massive aerial attacks into her region since the Lebanese terrorist movement joined Hamas in its war against Israel, warned that, "As long as Iran supports its main proxy, which is Hezbollah, it will be very difficult to prevent its rebuilding of its military capabilities and with everything that happened in Iran In the past year, Iran still supports Hezbollah." She noted that Iran still aids Hezbollah via "arms smuggling and money" and "they still put a lot of effort [into] that and the training and the involvement of Iran in Hezbollah in Lebanon.
And this must be stopped." LEBANON ACCUSES IRAN OF INSERTING IRGC TERRORISTS INTO COUNTRY 'UNDER GUISE OF DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITY' Iran's regime is a state-sponsor of terrorism and Hezbollah’s base is the Shiite community in Lebanon. Radical Shiite Islamism unifies Iran's regime with its chief proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon. Alma, who has a deep knowledge of Hezbollah’s activities, wrote on X on Sunday: "The battle for the Ali al-Taher Ridge is over – the struggle with Hezbollah is not." According to Zehavi, Hezbollah "today is much more of a guerrilla organization than a terrorist army as it used to be.
It is having a lot of difficulties in rebuilding its capabilities… It is dedicated to rebuilding its military capabilities. But it has a lot of challenges along the way with this regard because of the regime change in Syria, because of that fact that it's much more difficult to transfer weapons through the airport in Lebanon and through Syria. But it doesn't mean that it is not happening.
They are still trying and some of it do pass." Hezbollah’s setback was also echoed by Israel TV’s Channel 13 chief political analyst, Amit Segal. He said the Hezbollah base Ali al-Taher was "Just ten kilometers (just over six miles) from the Israeli border, with a clear view of the Litani and the Israeli Hula Valley, it was the place from which Hezbollah intended to coordinate its own Oct. 7 in the Galilee." Hezbollah’s ally, the Hamas terrorist organization, invaded Israel nearly 3 years ago on Oct. 7 and slaughtered over 1,200 people in southern Israel, including more than 40 Americans. The IDF announced on Sunday that "Soldiers from the 36th Division have operated in recent weeks to clear and neutralize the two underground routes in the Ali al-Taher Ridge area in the Security Zone.
The soldiers achieved operational control of the ridge area, both above and below ground, and cleared the area of terrorists. Some of the terrorists were eliminated, while others fled the area." PENTAGON HOSTS FIRST-EVER ISRAELI–LEBANESE MILITARY TALKS AIMED AT CURBING HEZBOLLAH The IDF statement added that "Following operations in the underground routes over the past several weeks, their capability to carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers from within the routes has been neutralized." Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati told a Lebanese podcaster in late August that, "Ali al-Taher is important, but if it is lost it does not mean the end of Hezbollah." Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told an Arab TV station, also in late August, that the Lebanese army was ready to take over the strategic ridge. He accused Israel of blocking the army due to its own political considerations ahead of Israeli national elections on Oct. 27.
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