AP

JERUSALEM—- With Iranian backing, Hezbollah guerrillas have dramatically increased their rocket range and can now threaten most of Israel, senior Israeli defense officials said Thursday.

The Lebanese group has acquired new Iranian rockets with a range of about 185 miles, the officials said. That means the guerrillas can hit anywhere in Israel’s heavily populated center and reach as far south as Dimona, where Israel’s nuclear reactor is located.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the confidential intelligence assessment to the media.

When Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel. The longest-range rockets fired, which Israel said were Iranian-made, hit some 45 miles inside Israel.

Although Israel’s air force managed to take out most of the group’s long-range rockets, the military failed throughout the war to halt the short-range rocket fire that paralyzed northern Israel and killed 40 Israeli civilians.

After the war, the U.N. dispatched a peacekeeping force to distance Hezbollah from the border and prevent the group from rearming. But Israel says Hezbollah’s Iranian and Syrian patrons have steadily provided the group with large amounts of rockets since then, many of them capable of hitting central Israel. However, it has not revealed the evidence for its claims.

Hezbollah and U.N. peacekeeping officials were not immediately available for comment.

The defense officials did not say how many of the new rockets Hezbollah has obtained. However, Israelis have said previously that overall, Hezbollah now has many more rockets in its arsenal than the 14,000 it had before the conflict — likely more than double that number.

In early March, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported Israeli claims that Hezbollah’s arsenal includes 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon.

Israel also faces near-daily rocket barrages in the south from Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamic group Hamas. The rockets from Gaza, mainly crude short-range projectiles, have killed 13 Israelis since 2001. Like Hezbollah, Hamas has strong ties to Iran.

Its always interesting to me that people keep saying that Israel needs to quit doing whatever it is that people think they are doing to stop Lebanon and Palestine from bombing them. I don’t get it. Its like saying women are at fault for getting raped because they walk down the street. Apparently, Israel is at fault for getting bombed because it exists.

Its also interesting that the U.N. peacekeeping force has to resort to keeping Hezbollah far enough form the border with Israel so that they can’t bomb them. Apparently, using any kind of reason or peace negotiations just isn’t an option. I submit its not an option because they don’t want peace. They only want to destroy Israel. Period.

The news that Hezbollah, with the assistance of Iran and Syria, has had a dramatic increase in their fire power and the range of their rockets is alarming. The leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas have never made a secret that their intention is to destroy Israel. The leaders of Iran have never made a secret that their goal is to destroy Israel. They say what they intend to do. They work diligently towards that goal and are obviously making serious progress. All the while we don’t listen. Is it that we don’t believe them? Are we so afraid of them that we just stick our heads in the sand and hope they won’t be able to produce the technology to do it? Why don’t we listen? Why don’t we believe them?

I wonder what our presidential candidates intend to do about Iran.

All in all. This is very alarming news.