Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has told the Knesset that Hezbollah is now three times stronger than it was during the Lebanon War in summer 2006.

“The firepower of Hezbollah has grown threefold since the Second Lebanon War,” Barak said Monday.

He said the terrorist group’s missiles could reach towns and cities over 125 miles from Israel’s border with Lebanon.

Before the 2006 war, Hezbollah had 14,000 missiles. Now, according to Barak, it has 42,000.

Barak also admitted that the UN resolution agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon to end the Second Lebanon War was a failure. The resolution was meant to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding. “In practice, UN Resolution 1701 isn’t working, and Hezbollah’s integration within the Lebanese republic exposes Lebanon and its infrastructures to a more massive strike in the event of a future standoff,” he said.

Meanwhile, pan-Arab satellite news channel Al-Arabiya reported that Hezbollah conducted secret military maneuvers both south and north of the Litani River last Saturday. Hezbollah has denied this. If it is true, this is a blatant violation of Resolution 1701, which stipulates that the area south of the Litani is to be demilitarized.

Hezbollah is an Iranian-sponsored and -armed terrorist group. It hates Israel. Yet it is being allowed to build up forces on Israel’s northern border.

Hezbollah is just one part of Iran’s plan to conquer Jerusalem. For more information on how Tehran intends to use this terrorist tool, see our article “Iran’s Other Weapon.”