Israeli media have reported that the Israeli military is concerned about what it describes as “a significant change in Hezbollah’s air defense concept in Lebanon, following the party’s doubling of the number of air defense systems in its power, in an attempt to restrict the freedom of action of the Israeli Air Force in Lebanon.”
Israel’s daily Maariv reported on Friday that the Israeli military considers “Hezbollah’s decision to restrict the Israeli Air Force with the available Russian air defense systems, SA8 and SA22, to be a fundamental change in Hezbollah’s strategic concept, within of which attempts are being made to restrict the freedom of action of the Israeli Air Force during normal hours.”
The newspaper added that Israeli estimates indicate that Hezbollah “doubled the number of air defense systems in its possession over the past five years and that these defense systems are mainly based on modern Iranian systems.”
He noted that “the improvement of these capabilities by Hezbollah is continuous, and this is expressed, according to Israeli estimates, in the availability of these systems for rapid use and in accordance with the decision of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.”
The Israeli security service believes that “the attack by an Israeli drone, in August 2019, of a facility in a building in the heart of Beirut’s southern suburbs, the stronghold of Hezbollah, which has been described as an installation to improve the accuracy of the missiles, initiated the turning point in Hezbollah’s strategy, and Nasrallah’s threat at the time to “start shooting down Israeli drones.”
According to the newspaper, “Hezbollah put this threat into effect two months later, when it fired an SA8 missile at an Israeli Hermes 450 drone, which was conducting an intelligence-gathering mission, but the missile missed its target.”
The newspaper noted that the Israeli army “surveilled the vehicle from which the missile was launched and asked to target it, but the Israeli political level, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, did not approve it, in anticipation of an escalation.”
The newspaper adds that the Israeli army “considers this event extremely important for the future and that it motivated Nasrallah to show other capabilities on the ground.” This was followed by three attempts by Hezbollah to shoot down Israeli drones.”
Afterward, the Israeli military discussed “the possibility of targeting Hezbollah’s air defense systems, and then removed this issue from its agenda, while Hezbollah bolstered its armament with air defense systems,” the newspaper states.
Last Monday, Hezbollah announced that it had shot down an Israeli drone that infiltrated Lebanese airspace in the Azziya valley near southern Zibqin. Party media outlets confirmed the downing of the drone in a brief statement without mentioning other details about the incident.
The Israeli army spokesman also admitted to the downing of the drone in a brief statement stating: “A drone was shot down on Lebanese territory during routine activity, and there is no fear of information leaking.”
Middle East Monitor
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