Hezbollah's Rocket Science

Advanced Weapons Show Iranian Assistance, Defy Israeli Defenses

(CBS) 
The Israeli and American militaries had been trying to develop a high-tech laser to defend against these kinds of rocket attacks. But after nearly 10 years in development, the project was never completed.

Pike said the Nautilus Tactical High Energy Laser "dropped off the radar" about three years ago. Ben-Ari said the United States pulled out of the joint project to focus on anti-ballistic missile defense projects.

Over the last few days, the Israeli military is trying a new approach. It has dispatched Navy warships to the coast near Haifa in the hope that they can shoot down rockets with weapons used to defend against anti-ship missiles.

"How effective they will be is a question," Ben-Ari says. "It's mostly for psychological effect. The people see the military is doing something to protect them."

Hezbollah has also revealed a new part of its arsenal with its cruise-missile attack on an Israeli warship on Friday.

"That's a signal that there's no way of knowing what they have up their sleeve," Ben-Ari said. "There are systems on Israeli navy ships to protect against this, but they weren't even turned on."

The missile that hit the ship was far more advanced than anything Hezbollah has used before.

Israeli officials said the radar-guided missile was actually fired by Iranian soldiers in Lebanon. However, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly denied that his fighters receive weapons or training from Iran.

"I completely deny the presence of any Iranian troops," he said in a televised address on Sunday. "Lebanese are the ones firing these weapons. They talk about Iranians to diminish and humiliate us as Lebanese and Arabs, that we don't have the capabilities and experience."

In an exclusive interview with CBS News correspondent Richard Roth, Syria's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Fayssal Mekdad, flat-out denied that Hezbollah receives any weapons from his country or Iran.

However, analysts don't think Hezbollah fighters are well-trained enough to build or fire the advanced weapons themselves.

"The more advanced the capabilities, the less I think this is a purely Hezbollah capability and the more Iranian fingerprint are on it," Ben-Ari said.

"They definitely can't build it themselves," Pike said. "The question is whether they can operate it themselves."

The question now is: does Hezbollah have any more surprises to unleash on Israel?

Israel has warned that the guerillas have long-range missiles that could put Tel Aviv in their crosshairs, and there is no way of telling exactly what weapons are hidden in Lebanon until they are fired.

Ibrahim Mousawi, a spokesman for the group in Beirut, told CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan, "Hezbollah has many surprises that have yet to unfold, so they have to expect more things."