Israeli officials' jaws drop over Hezbollah's complex operations

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
17 May 2024 15:03
16 Shares

Israeli media outlets shed light on a series of Hezbollah attacks that have cast a dark shadow over "Israel's" military capabilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement in Petah Tikva, occupied Palestine, on March 7, 2020. (AP)

Multiple Israeli media outlets are reporting on Hezbollah's military capabilities, following a series of top-tier attacks that targeted highly-prized Israeli surveillance and radar systems, while introducing new methods of engagement.

The Ynet news website said that Israeli officers serving on the northern front have issued a warning regarding the fact that Hezbollah can launch an attack on Israeli soldiers near the Palestinian-Lebanese border 30 seconds after locating them. The capability has been showcased in several videos published by the group's Military Media unit, where Hezbollah utilized either suicide drones, anti-tank guided missiles, or artillery weapons of various types to target Israeli groupings and individual soldiers.

Moreover, the military correspondent for the Israeli Army Radio said that Hezbollah has carried out a number of "high-quality attacks on more distant targets, using more advanced military weapons."

Hezbollah's 'amazing capabilities' showcased in first-ever airstrike

On Thursday, Hezbollah launched an airstrike via an Ababil-T drone armed with two Soviet-era S-5 rockets on a grouping of Israeli soldiers in Metulla. The attack marked the first-ever aerial strike launched on Israeli positions by a Lebanese entity and the first Arab strike on Israeli positions since 1973.

The Israeli Army Radio's correspondent said that Hezbollah has made it "a normal" occurrence to launch dozens of rockets and missiles toward the Meron Air Traffic Control military base, one of the occupation's strategic military sites, used to both coordinate offensive operations and track and discover aerial threats.

As for today's attacks, the correspondent pointed to an attack conducted via several suicide drones that targeted Israeli officers and soldiers' accommodation camps in Ga'aton. On this particular incident, the Israeli broadcaster Channel 14's correspondent said that the drone attack placed hundreds of thousands of Israelis in shelters and bunkers after sirens went off in Ben Ami, Gesher HaZiv, Evron, Nahariya, Sa'ar, Shlomi, Metzuba, Betzet, Achziv Miluot Industrial Zone, Liman, Rosh HaNikra, Avdon, Neveh Ziv, Manot, Ga'aton, Yechiam, Cabri, and Ein Yacov over 14 minutes.

Channel 14 also reported that Israeli officials have always "estimated that Hezbollah had amazing capabilities that would surprise everyone."

Hezbollah's Tel Shamayim operation dropped the jaws of Israeli officials

The broadcaster also said that Hezbollah's attack on the "highly sensitive" Tel Shamayim facility "dropped the jaws" of Israeli security officers, the military's Northern Command, and the Israeli political leadership. The site, located 35 km away from the border, was attacked by two suicide drones, escaping a complex and layered anti-air defense system before impacting its target.

It is worth noting that the Sky Dew High Availability Aerostat System (HAAS) in question hosts high-tech surveillance equipment, early detection systems, and an AESA radar. Hezbollah has slowly dismantled Israeli surveillance and radar systems across occupied territories, by targeting spyware installed on frontline sites, attacking the Meron Air Traffic Control Base, surgically striking radars, downing a surveillance balloon, and taking down the Sky Dew HAAS.

Hezbollah's ATGMs, drones evade Israeli anti-air, electronic warfare systems

The UK-based The Independent noted Hezbollah has adapted its attacks in recent weeks, managing to reduce the number of fighters lost in confrontations.

At the same time, Hezbollah has introduced new methods to its attacks, maintaining a high output of operations, including complex and composite attacks.

The Israeli news website, Intelli Times, said that "Hezbollah succeeds in utilizing suicide drones and precision television-guided weapons," while Israeli forces do not have "the ability to intercept them."

According to the website, this occurrence is "astonishing" and raises questions about Hezbollah's electronic warfare capabilities and its possible use of the Russian satellite navigation system. The outlet called the aforementioned operations "worrying", stressing that Hezbollah "will do anything to disable as many [Israeli] systems as possible," in preparation for an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

"[Israel] fired 5 Iron Dome missiles at 3 drones [and perhaps more] and shot down only one. What do we do when a swarm of 100 or 200 arrives?"

Intelli Times claims that Hezbollah is not launching its drones to attack "Israel" but to survey and scan the preparedness of Israeli anti-air systems and search for blind spots.

"This is what the public needs to know. This may be a scary outlook but it will become true," the website added.

Settlers fail to cope with Hezbollah's operations

On his part, the head of the Merom HaGalil settlement council, Amit Sofer, said in an interview for Channel 12, "We stand here in front of residents and people who do not know to what extent they can remain strong and steadfast," adding that such feelings are "being crushed day after day."

Sofer noted that every Israeli assassination of a Hezbollah officer has led to large-scale attacks on Meron.

"After every response, we experience unending tension, and we must completely and definitely stop," he added.

Sofer called on Israeli authorities to strive for a resolution to the confrontations, saying that ongoing engagement is an economic threat "which is increasing month after month." Fed up with the current state of affairs, Sofer called on the Israeli military to "show [Hezbollah] for once that the owner of the house has gone crazy."

"The situation here, in the end, is unbearable. People here are collapsing day after day," Sofer emphasized.