Kayhan newspaper, arguably Iran’s most reactionary paper whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ran an extensive background of what it claimed to be Israeli fears about Lebanese Hezbollah’s missile arsenal. “Zionists [Israel] are deeply worried about Hezbollah’s missile strength,” the paper said.
Kayhan, always propagating the most sensationalist views, referred specifically to an Israeli media report that it claimed showed deep anxieties among the Israeli military and security establishment about the fate of strategically sensitive Israeli sites in the event of a new conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Kayhan mentioned chemical industries located at Haifa and Israeli nuclear sites as key concerns, referring to comments allegedly made by an unnamed Israeli official.
While Kayhan did not once mention Iran as a source of material and training for the Hezbollah military arsenal, the paper took much pride in outlining what it claimed to be the Lebanese group’s capacity to attack Israel. “The Israelis have concluded that Hezbollah has over 130,000 missiles,” the paper stated and then mentioned by type the various short, medium and long-range missiles, which Hezbollah has at its disposal. In its final warning to Israel, the hardline Kayhan suggested that in the event of conflict “Israel can be hit by 1,500 missiles per day, whereas in the last war in 2006 it was hit by only 200 missiles” from Hezbollah.
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