Multiple missile launching sites deployed by the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the heart of heavily populated civilian areas have been exposed by an Israeli research body, again highlighting Hezbollah’s modus operandi of using human shields.
The Israeli Alma Research and Education Center exposed 28 new sites in which Hezbollah stores its weapons in civilian structures and in the proximity of densely populated areas throughout Lebanon, with the highest concentration in the capital city of Beirut, the Beqaa Valley, and southern Lebanon, areas controlled by the terror group.
Alma stressed that Hezbollah plans to launch these weapons toward civilian targets and population concentrations in Israel from within or adjacent to residential buildings, believing that this tactic will grant it immunity against the IDF’s counterstrikes.
Alma based its findings on the Wikimapia online editable map. Sometime in 2018, unknown sources uploaded several locations onto Wikimapia. The locations were marked as Fateh 110 missile launch sites and associated infrastructure. The degree of detail and geographical context of the locations presented a plausible case for the information’s reliability.
Based on this information, the Alma Center developed a database of 28 sites related to the launch, storage and production of Hezbollah’s medium-range Fateh 110 / M 600 missiles.
The Iranian-produced Fateh 110’s effective range is up to 300 km or 186 miles, while improved models called “D’ Al-Ficar” have an even further range of up to 700 km or 435 miles, with an ability to hit any site in Israel.
Almost all of the sites are in southern Beirut, an area controlled by Hezbollah, and are located in civilian neighborhoods, inside private houses, medical centers, churches, industrial sites, public offices, fast food chains, and in open spaces nearby.
Most of the uploaded locations were deleted from Wikimapia, following a user request accepted by the website’s administrators.
It is fair to assume that the IDF is knowledgeable of these sites.
Hezbollah has a stockpile of over 130,000 rockets, more than the combined arsenal of all NATO countries, with the exception of the United States.