<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has warned that it is fully ready to fight against Israel after its fighters exchanged fire for days with Israeli soldiers on their border.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Both parties have traded shelling and rocket fire across their borders since the Palestinian armed faction Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,400 people.</div><div><br></div><div>As violence escalates, observers fear that Hezbollah may open a new front against Israel at the behest of its leaders and their Iranian backers. That scenario may relieve pressure on Hamas and beleaguered civilians in Gaza, but it would be devastating for Lebanon and costly for Israel, analysts told Al Jazeera.</div><div><br></div><div>Here’s all you need to know about Hezbollah’s military capabilities:</div><div><br></div><div>Has Hezbollah fought Israel before?</div><div>In July 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israeli fighters on its border which triggered a massive military response from Israel. The war lasted 34 days and resulted in the death of more than 1,100 Lebanese nationals and 165 Israelis.</div><div><br></div><div>Nobody conclusively won the war, but Lebanese civilians were the clear losers. Israel destroyed or damaged about 30,000 homes, 109 bridges and 78 medical facilities, according to the International Committee for the Red Cross.</div><div><br></div><div>Nicholas Blanford, an expert on Hezbollah with the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, DC, said the group had 3,000 to 5,000 fighters and short-range missiles to hit Israel.</div><div><br></div><div>But over the last 17 years, Hezbollah has significantly improved its military capabilities.</div><div><br></div><div>“I think Hezbollah today has the ability to inflict the greatest damage on Israel [since the Jewish state was established] in 1948,” Blanford told Al Jazeera.</div><div><br></div><div>How strong is Hezbollah today?</div><div>Blanford estimated that Hezbollah has at least 60,000 fighters, including full-time and reservists. The group also increased its stockpile of missiles from 14,000 in 2006 to about 150,000 now, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Most are short-range, Hezbollah also has Iranian precision-guided missiles that have a range of 300km (186 miles). Blanford added that Hezbollah’s “special forces” unit is trained to infiltrate Israel in the event of a war.</div><div><br></div><div>“It’s not a surprise perhaps that Israeli officials have over the last few years considered Hezbollah to be their primary threat,” he told Al Jazeera.</div><div><br></div><div>Randa Slim, the director of the Conflict and Resolutions Program at the Middle East Institute, also told Al Jazeera that the Syrian war – where Hezbollah intervened on the side of President Bashar al-Assad – enabled the group to improve its combat capabilities.</div><div><br></div><div>“In Syria, which was a prolonged war, they gained new skills in terms of urban warfare and intelligence. Their intelligence systems improved a lot,” she told. Source: Al Jazeera&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>