Hezbollah retains massive weapons arsenal

The missile that was launched by Hezbollah towards Tel Aviv was reportedly an Iranian-made Qadr-1, a medium-range ballistic missile that can carry a warhead of between 700kg and 1,000kg.

It would have been enough to destroy most or all of a sizable building, had it not been intercepted over central Israel by one of the country's multiple air defences, in this case a system called "David’s Sling".

Hezbollah has an arsenal of between 100,000 and 150,000 rockets, drones and missiles.

Up to 10,000 of these are believed to be medium-range, precision-guided ballistic missiles, like the Fateh-110, that can reach Tel Aviv and most of the population centres in Israel. (Jerusalem is considered a less likely target because of its large Palestinian population.)

Last month, Hezbollah released a video boasting of its vast, underground arsenal of these missiles, threatening to unleash them on Israel should war break out.

Israel’s "Operation Northern Arrows", launched this week, is seeking to destroy as much of this arsenal as possible, including where Israel says missiles have been concealed in private homes and garages.

But Hezbollah’s subterranean network of tunnels and caves, built into the hard rock of southern Lebanon, is extensive. Despite all the air strikes, it most likely retains the capability to fire a massive barrage of missiles at Israeli cities, but its leadership also knows the retaliation would be devastating for Lebanon.