It is also possible that Hezbollah might try to disrupt Israel’s off-shore enterprise by targeting rigs and Israeli naval patrols. Hezbollah currently possesses Chinese C-802 anti-ship missiles and possibly Russian Yakhont missiles, all capable of hitting targets up to 180 miles from shore. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah fired a missile at the INS Hanit corvette, killing four sailors and causing extensive damage.
In a 2011 speech marking the fifth anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, urged the Lebanese government to ratify a law to pave the way for companies to start exploring for oil and gas off the country’s coast. He said Lebanon should protect these companies because Israel had installations, too. More recently, Nasrallah reportedly insisted that Israel is engaged in a plot to plunder Lebanese oil, a charge possibly initiated as an attempt for political survival.
Given the Iran-backed terror group’s costly twin decisions to support the Assad regime in Syria and to impose political gridlock in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s “eleventh hour” consent to join a compromise government with “March 14” ought not be viewed through the prism of a peace offering. The compromise is more likely a tactical attempt by Hezbollah to restore its shattered image by fabricating an alleged threat against it from an outside source.