Hezbollah possesses dozens of missiles designated to attack naval targets. We do not know their exact number. We discussed several of them in an article we published on June 29 2022 regarding Hezbollah’s naval unit: Chinese-made C-802, Iranian-made Nour, and Pakistani-made Nasr. Russia’s advanced Yakhont missile is also probably in Hezbollah’s possession. Several of these missiles for immediate use are stored adjacent to the Lebanese coast to be launched from launch sites prepared and mapped by Hezbollah. These missiles array was on alert during the last summer before Israel activated the Karish rig.
The C-802 missile was used in 2006 against an Israeli ship. The missile’s speed is 0.9 Mach, with a range of 120 km and a warhead of 165 kg.
“Nour” is an anti-ship missile with a 120-220 km range. The Nour is considered an upgraded version of the Chinese C-802 missile.
“Nasr” is a missile capable of destroying targets of up to 3000 tons, with a speed close to the speed of sound.
The Russian “Yakhont” (P-800 Oniks supersonic cruise missile) has a range of up to 300 kilometers and a speed of up to 2.6 Mach.
It is highly likely that “Ghadir” and Khalij Fars” anti-ship missiles were also transferred to Hezbollah by the Iranians.
“Ghadir”:
The “Ghadir”, The “Ghadir” (translated: “able”) is an anti-ship cruise missile. Designed and manufactured by Iranian experts at the Aerospace Industries Organization of the Iranian Ministry of Defense. It was unveiled on August 24, 2014, at an exhibition held by the Iranian Ministry of Defense, sponsored by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The missile has a range of 300 km. It can be launched from other previous missiles’ platforms, thus making it easier to operate. The “Ghadir” has systems that make detecting radar and conducting electronic warfare against it difficult.
In September 2020, the missile was seen in the Iranian army’s joint training exercise, “Zolfaghar 99.” During the exercise, the missile was reportedly launched against targets at more than 200 km, successfully destroying them.
“Khalij Fars”:
The Khalij Fars missile (translated: the Persian Gulf) belongs to the Iranian family of “Hermes” missiles. This anti-ship coastal missile can destroy stationary and moving targets at sea at a distance of 300-400 km (an upgraded version can reach up to 700 km). The missile was first introduced on September 22, 2011. It is characterized by its high accuracy in hitting targets within a few meters.
Khalij Fars reportedly flew at three times the speed of sound (similar to the Russian Yakhont). This speed makes it very challenging to detect on radar, thus making it very difficult to intercept. The missile is 8 meters long, 0.60 meters in diameter, and is equipped with a 650 kg warhead. The missile was designed and manufactured by the IRGC.
