On Saturday morning, Hezbollah fired an unusual barrage of dozens of rockets at the Galilee, in what the terror group dubbed its “initial response” to the assassination of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri. “We launched 62 rockets,” Hezbollah announced, and although the IDF suggested it was only some 40 rockets, they were directed at an Air Force intelligence base on Mount Meron.
On Sunday night, the IDF confirmed that Saturday’s attack by Hezbollah caused damage to a sensitive base on Mount Meron. At the same time, the announcement clarified that the functioning of the Air Force base was not damaged. There was an attempt to damage the capabilities of the Air Force and in fact, try to “blind” it, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
The first worrisome part about this event is that some of the hits on the base were not only from rockets, but also from improved, long-range anti-tank missiles, and the documentation posted by Hezbollah clearly shows many direct hits that inflicted damage to the special communication domes of the base.
The second worrisome part is that Hezbollah knew about the base and its precise location, and was able to direct accurate hits at it from a distance of between 8 and 10 kilometers.
Saturday’s attack is a step up in the campaign over the Air Force’s freedom of action in Lebanon’s skies. It appears that despite the repeated attacks on Iranian convoys, not all the arms shipments to Hezbollah were thwarted, and the terrorist organization is in command of several anti-aircraft batteries. These batteries recently managed to shoot down several IDF unmanned aerial vehicles but they have yet to score a hit on a manned aircraft. Blinding those manned missions’ intelligence support may be a game changer.
In recent weeks, the Air Force has been attacking these anti-aircraft units: one was attacked in the area of the city of Sidon, and a significant number of other units have already been destroyed by the Air Force. But there’s no telling how many have managed to sneak undetected and will be thrown into battle by Hezbollah when the “real” war erupts.
Israel has been declaring repeatedly that the 80,000 or so residents of the northern area who have been evacuated will not come home before Hezbollah is pushed north of the Litani River, as per UNSC Resolution 1701 – either by diplomatic means or by war. This was the message both PM Netanyahu and DM Gallant conveyed to President Biden’s special envoy Amos Hochstein.
Gallant warned Hochstein that the window of opportunity for diplomacy is narrowing. He told an assessment meeting at the northern command: “We will continue and intensify the operation throughout the entire width of the sector, as much as it takes. We have one clear goal – to safely return the residents of the north to their homes.”
