The Lebanese militant group captured an advanced Israeli anti-tank missile in the 2006 war, and its ally, Iran, reverse-engineered it, Israeli officials say.

For years, Israelis were told that in the next war with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia would fire thousands of rockets and missiles a day, overwhelming their air defenses, causing blackouts, death and destruction.

Qassem made his comments in a pre-recorded address aired a few hours after U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said he would head to Israel to try to close a deal on a truce, after two days of meetings with Lebanese officials including two sit-downs with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.