Israel is threatened by Hezbollah just as much as by Iran’s nuclear programme
-
Raven Ruma
- . December 28, 2022
- . Update: December 28, 2022 11:50 pm
Fighter jets launched missiles at and near Damascus airport early on Tuesday, December 20, destroying a number of infrastructure and weapons storage facilities belonged to Iran’s local proxies. Al Arabiya TV reports that shortly after an Iranian aircraft touched down, an anti-aircraft battery that was nearby the airport was also hit. The strike was blamed by the Syrian government on the Israel Defense Forces.
Later on the day, a drone belonging to Hezbollah from Lebanon tried to fly into Israeli airspace. The IDF destroyed it. It was stopped in the Upper Galilee moshav of Zarit, which has a population of about 250 and is close to the Lebanese border. It was determined that the drone was a quadcopter, a tiny machine with four rotors.
This tit-for-tat engagement was the most recent in a string of recent military contacts in what has been known as the war between wars for more than ten years. For instance, The Wall Street Journal reported on November 9 that Israel had attacked a convoy thought to be carrying Iranian weaponry into Syria. The report states that the strike, which took place close to the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal, destroyed a number of vehicles. At least ten people lost their lives.
Normally, Israeli sources don’t acknowledge the countermeasures Israel employs, however on December 14, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi seemed to confirm this specific operation. Kohavi spoke at Reichman University in Herzliya and discussed Israeli intelligence and its ability to launch strikes. We could not have known about the Syrian convoy travelling from Iraq to Syria a few weeks earlier, he claimed. What was within was unknown to us. We had no way of knowing that out of 25 vehicles, truck number 8 was the one that contained the weapons.
He said, “We must dispatch the pilots, despite knowing that. They need to be capable of dodging surface-to-air missiles. Without a doubt, there are missions where 30, 40, or even 70 surface-to-air missiles are launched at them during sorties. They have to strike, strike, and strike again. In some of the attacks, they also have to avoid killing people who shouldn’t be killed. Those are really sophisticated skills.”
Read | Israeli authorities claim to have blocked Iran nuclear deal
Hezbollah agents have been more active recently on the Lebanon-Israel border. They have expanded patrols, built dozens of lookout stations, and actively track and record Israeli troop movements. Additionally, Hezbollah has been using drones that were supplied by Iran more frequently lately. Prior to the Israel-Lebanon maritime accord, drones were sent to film Israel’s offshore gas drill in the summer. The IDF obliterated them.
Additionally, Hezbollah is still working to increase its influence in Syria. It was alleged that the IDF assaulted a Syrian military radar facility in Tal Qalib earlier in December. The following day, leaflets warning Syrian forces against cooperating with Hezbollah were dropped by the Israel Air Force in the southwest Syrian region of Quneitra. They stated that working with Hezbollah and their continued presence at Tal Qalib in Syria would be detrimental to you. You have been humiliated by Hezbollah’s presence in the area, and now you must pay the price.
The fight to stop or lessen Iran’s anti-Israel activities has spread to social media. According to tweets on Twitter from multiple sources, Israel has the names of 63 pilots working for the Iranian Mahan airline who are suspected of transporting weapons from Tehran to Beirut, according to a recent story from the Al-Monitor website. The tweets promised to publish the names and pictures of the pilots soon. No hint was given as to what, if any, action might come next.
Iran is making a concerted attempt to transport advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon via land and air through Iraq and Syria, including through many Syrian airports. Over the past ten years, Israel has waged an equally tenacious campaign to thwart Iran’s plans, which are obviously intended to arm Hezbollah in anticipation of a future clash with Israel.
