Hezbollah Said to Be Using Copy of Israeli Missile Against Israel

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been using an advanced missile against Israel that was reverse-engineered from an Israeli weapon it captured in a past war, according to Israeli defense officials.

Hezbollah fighters are believed to have seized the original Israeli Spike anti-tank missiles during the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon and shipped them to their main state backer, Iran, for cloning, Israeli and Western defense officials and weapons experts say.

Eighteen years later, Hezbollah is firing the rebranded Almas missiles at Israeli military bases, communication systems and air-defense launchers with enough precision and power to pose a significant challenge for Israeli military forces. The missiles have a range of up to 10 miles and carry advanced guidance seekers to track and lock onto targets.

That Iran and its proxy forces have cloned weapons systems to use against the very adversaries who designed them is not new. Iran, for example, has copied American drones and missiles.

But the Almas missile is an example of an increasing use of Iranian-engineered weapons that is “fundamentally altering regional power dynamics,” according to Mohammed Al-Basha, a Middle East weapons analyst who runs a risk advisory firm based in Virginia.

“What was once a gradual spread of older missile generations has transformed into rapid deployment of cutting-edge technology across active battlefields,” Mr. Al-Basha said this past week.