Washington doubtful Israel’s Iron Dome can keep up in war against Lebanon

 Hezbollah has already managed to target numerous Iron Dome platforms throughout the course of the war

News Desk - The Cradle

Officials in Washington are raising serious concerns that Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system could fail in the event of a wider war with Hezbollah, three sources told CNN on 20 June. 

The anonymous officials said these fears have also been communicated to Washington by Tel Aviv, which has recently indicated to its ally that it is planning to expand its already violent and indiscriminate assault on south Lebanon. 

Israel is “planning to shift resources from southern Gaza to northern Israel in preparation for a possible offensive against the group,” the US officials said. 

“We assess that at least some [Iron Dome batteries] will be overwhelmed,” one senior official told CNN. 

Another official said: “In the event of a full-blown war, the support Israel will need most is additional air defense systems and Iron Dome replenishments, which the US would provide.”

Over the past few months, Hezbollah has increasingly carried out operations targeting Israeli Iron Dome platforms across the Galilee. Hezbollah released footage of an operation targeting Iron Dome batteries earlier this month, with images of the destroyed platform circulating in Hebrew media afterward. 

The resistance group released a video on the morning of 21 June showcasing its recent attack on the Drone Dome radar system, which detects incoming UAV infiltrations. 

It came just a few days after Hezbollah released a nine-minute video of footage filmed by its surveillance drones. 

The footage showed several sensitive sites in the north including the port of Haifa, the military sites and warships within the port, and buildings belonging to the Israeli Rafael defense technology firm north of Haifa, where air defense missiles for the Iron Dome and David’s Sling systems are manufactured, assembled, and stored. The video caused panic across Israel. 

In April, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in response to the attack on its consulate earlier that month. The attack, while limited, still managed to penetrate and overwhelm Tel Aviv’s defense systems. 

Palestinian resistance groups have also been able to overwhelm the Iron Dome throughout the course of the war. 

However, Hezbollah's vast arsenal of missiles, rockets, and precision-guided weapons poses an even greater threat to the system. 

“Israeli officials have told the US they believe the Iron Dome could be vulnerable, particularly in northern Israel, and have been surprised at the sophistication of Hezbollah’s strikes to date,” the US officials went on to tell CNN. 

One Israeli official cited by the outlet confirmed that Hezbollah attacks could be “challenging for the system to defend against.” 

Meanwhile, concerns are also growing over Hezbollah’s network of tunnels under Lebanon – which have been described as even more sophisticated than the vast tunnel network used by Hamas and other resistance groups in Gaza.

“Unlike Gaza, which is geographically isolated from its backers in Tehran, Iran has established ground and air supply routes leading to Lebanon through Iraq and Syria that could be used to sustain Hezbollah’s forces in the event of an all-out war,” said Amy Mackinnon, Foreign Policy magazine’s intelligence and national security correspondent.