Israel Admits Major Misjudgment in Underestimating Hizbullah's Capabilities in the War Against Iran

Tel Aviv — Israel Channel 13 quoted an Israeli official who said Tel Aviv had misread the scale of Hizbullah’s involvement in the war against Iran, and that the level of force displayed by the party exceeded the estimates of Israeli intelligence agencies. The official said security agencies had underestimated Hizbullah’s participation and did not expect Hizbullah to launch missiles with such range and intensity. Quoting Al Jazeera on Friday (6 March 2026), he added that Israel did not foresee Hizbullah choosing to enter the confrontation with such force and stressed that the development poses challenges on an unprecedented northern front. In the last few hours there has been a marked escalation, with Iran and Hizbullah launching attacks for the first time within two hours, according to Israeli media reports. Hizbullah launched a sudden strike in the attack on Wednesday in northern Israel. Hizbullah (Lebanon) on Wednesday aired footage of the operation launched on Tuesday targeting Israeli tanks on the outskirts of Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon, while Israel acknowledged two of its soldiers were wounded. The group also announced that they targeted the Tel Hashomer base in the south-east of Tel Aviv with a series of high-quality missiles. Since dawn they have launched attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles targeting locations and military command headquarters in central and northern Israel.