A recent report published by the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center revealed the Iran-backed Hezbollah is erecting more missile launch sites in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The missiles aimed at Israel are located in the city’s crowded neighborhoods, a tactic to deter the Israeli military from targeting the sites in case of an armed conflict.
Alma published its findings last week (download the PDF version here):
On September 29, 2020, during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled three more sites related to Hezbollah’s missile deployment in Beirut.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s exposure proved our working assumption as presented in our report: The launch sites are in close proximity to the missile production and storage sites, thus maintaining an immediate and instant launching capability. After the publication of our report last July, we continued extracting intelligence collected and persisted on the extraction of new information.
In February 2021, our follow-up report was published which dealt with the School compounds of the Islamic Shiite Waqf Committee in Burj al Barajneh, which serve as a human shield for Hezbollah’s medium-range missile array in Beirut (…)
We were recently able to identify four new sites belonging to Hezbollah’s missile deployment in Beirut: a commanding and control site, two production and storage sites, and one launch site.
The terrorist militia unveiled four new sites connected to the Iranian-made Fatah 110 medium-range ballistic missile system. It also included the coordinates of the newly identified site in Beirut, surrounded by heavily populated areas.
“Hezbollah plans to launch these weapons toward civilian targets and population concentrations in Israel from within or adjacent to residential buildings. Hezbollah believes that this tactic will grant it immunity against IDF’s attacks,” the report concluded.
In a July 2020 report, Alma exposed Hezbollah’s cynical human shield ploy.
“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,” the study said.
The latest findings confirm assertions made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his September 2020 speech to the United Nations General Assembly when he identified several Hezbollah rocket launch sites in Beirut’s residential areas.
“I say to the people of Lebanon, Israel means you no harm. But Iran does,” Netanyahu said during his UN speech. “Iran and Hezbollah have deliberately put you and your families in grave danger. And what you should make clear is that what they have done is unacceptable. You should tell them, tear these depots down.”
The use of Lebanese civilians as human shields goes beyond Hezbollah’s missile launch bases. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), “Hezbollah militants and arms are systematically embedded in civilian areas and urban population centers. Hundreds of arms depots, thousands of militants, and tens of thousands of rockets are distributed throughout Southern Lebanon alone.”
Besides Iranian-made Fatah 110 ballistic missiles, the terrorist militia’s arsenal includes precision-guided missiles capable of “directly target Israeli civilians, towns, and cities,” the IDF confirmed.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia, often regarded as the world’s most heavily armed terrorist outfit, received close to $700 million annually from Tehran before outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump imposed crippling sanctions in 2018.
President Joe Biden recently revoked the Trump administration’s enforcement of U.N. sections and international arms embargo on Iran, a move that may resume the flow of advanced Russian and Chinese weaponry to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed Arab-Islamic terrorist groups.
PM Netanyahu reveals secret Hezbollah Lebanon-based arms depots in UN General Assembly speech (September 2020)
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