But Israel says Iran and Syria also used those six years to provide satellite communications and some of the world's best infantry weapons, including modern, Russian-made anti-tank weapons and Semtex plastic explosives, as well as the training required to use them effectively against Israeli armour.
It is Hezbollah's skilful use of these weapons — in particular, wire-guided and laser-guided anti-tank missiles, with double, phased explosive warheads and a range of about three kilometres — that has caused most of the casualties to Israeli forces.
Hezbollah's Russian-made anti-tank missiles, designed to penetrate armour, have damaged or destroyed Israeli vehicles, including its most modern, the Merkava, on about 20 per cent of their hits, Israeli commanders at the front said.
Hezbollah has also used anti-tank missiles, including the less modern Sagger, to fire from a distance into houses in which Israeli troops are sheltered, with a first explosion cracking the typical cement block wall and the second going off inside.
"They use them like artillery to hit houses," said Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, until recently the Israeli army's director of intelligence analysis. "They can use them accurately up to even three kilometres, and they go through a wall like through the armour of a tank."
