While not necessarily a new or innovative tactic, Hezbollah’s effective use of anti-tank guided missiles allowed it to thwart Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon .

During Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah , the majority of the media’s attention focused on the threat that Hezbollah’s long-range rocket arsenal posed to Israeli population centers. Certainly, rocket attacks on Israel (Terrorist Incident, Terrorist Incident, Terrorist Incident among others) served Hezbollah’s goals by terrorizing Israeli civilians and diminishing Israel’s will to fight a sustained war. However, the rockets attacks did little to affect the military campaign in southern Lebanon.

The campaign was largely decided by Hezbollah’s successful use of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM). Hezbollah possesses a varied arsenal of ATGMs, including the European-made Milan, the Russian-designed Metis-M, Sagger AT-3, Spigot AT-4, Kornet AT-14, and the US made TOW (source).

ATGMs in the Field

According to Ha’aretz as of August 20, 2006, “anti-tank missiles hit 46 tanks and 14 other armored vehicles. In all these attacks, the tanks sustained only 15 armor penetrations while the other armored vehicles sustained five, with 20 soldiers killed, 15 of them tank crew members” (source). According to Rizik Elias, Director of the Syrian Center for Strategic Studies, “Hizbollah guerrillas have mastered the use of these missiles, and they seem to be firing them from a deadly range and with high precision rate. They are hitting the Israeli tanks from the vulnerable spots on the sides.”

There were also scattered reports that Hezbollah used its ATGMs against Israeli infantry. In one reported instance, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked a building that Israeli soldiers were using for shelter, detonating an arms cache stored inside the structure (source). The resultant explosion killed nine IDF soldiers and injured 17 others. In this manner, Hezbollah can compensate for its paucity of resources and use ATGMs as an effective replacement for accurate field artillery or aerial bombardment. Both the Metis and Kornet ATGM systems could be armed with a thermobaric warhead, creating a more effective anti-personnel weapon versus the standard high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead (source).

Are ATMGs Hezbollah’s Innovation?

Some commentators have credited Hezbollah for its innovative use of ATGMs in its battle with the IDF. While Hezbollah used its arsenal of ATGMs to frustrate the IDF’s advance through southern Lebanon, its use of ATGMs was not innovative and should have been anticipated by the IDF. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Egyptian Army used ATGM to repulse the IDFs initial counterattacks in the Sinai. As evidence of these successful tactics, the Israeli Army lost 150 tanks on the first night of the Yom Kippur War to Egyptian ATGMs (source).

Moreover, other insurgent groups have used ATGMs. Iraqi insurgents allegedly used Kornet ATGMs to disable at least two Abrahms tanks and one Bradley armored troop carrier during the opening stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom (source). However, the US Army denies that Kornets were used and stated that the armor was hit either by friendly fire or by a rocket propelled grenade.

The Ideal Weapon

Sophisticated ATGMs represent an ideal weapon for insurgent and guerrilla groups that face a more modern and armored adversary. During the recent conflict, Hezbollah demonstrated how a relatively small number of guerrillas could bloody and stall the advance of a numerically superior and better-equipped foe. Specifically, ATGMs offered Hezbollah two advantages.

First, the weapons’ small size and lethality allowed the guerrilla organization to operate in small and mobile fire teams. Under the right circumstances, these small teams could destroy an Israeli tank and slow the advance of Israeli troops, disabling its armor and inflicting casualties. In effect, ATGMs allowed Hezbollah to negate Israel’s advantage in firepower by exploiting the state’s sensitivity to casualties.

Second, in a more general sense, Hezbollah’s ability to use ATGM to slow Israel’s offensive into southern Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to garner positive propaganda. To capitalize on its successful attacks against Israeli armor, Hezbollah described Israel’s battle tanks on Al-Manar TV as “a toy for the rockets of the resistance.” This type of bravado resonates with Hezbollah’s domestic and foreign constituency, including Iran and Syria . Moreover, this type of propaganda has the potential to wear down the Israeli public’s appetite for war.

Other insurgent and guerrilla groups will likely study Hezbollah’s battlefield tactics. Therefore, ATGM may assume an important role in future battles between modern armies and their insurgent foes.