Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, warned Friday that Hezbollah has placed around 15,000 rockets along Lebanon's border with Israel, including some that could hit southern Eilat. "The Syrian-Iranian backed Hezbollah poses a very serious threat to Israel," Oren said in a conference call focused mainly on the new direct Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
"Hezbollah today now has four times as many rockets as it had during the 2006 Lebanon war. These rockets are longer-range. Every city in Israel is within range right now, including Eilat," he said. The Red Sea resort of Eilat is the most southern point in Israel.
He said the rockets also have bigger payloads and are "far more accurate" than those fired four years ago. "In 2006, many of their missiles were basically out in the open, in silos and the Israeli air force was able to neutralise a great number of them," Oren said.
"Today those same missiles have been placed under hospitals, and homes and schools because Hezbollah knows full well if we try to defend ourselves against them, we will be branded once again as war criminals," he added. Israel has already said Hezbollah has a total arsenal of 40,000 rockets.