From IDF releases photos of alleged Hezbollah missile sites near Beirut airport
The Israeli military on Thursday released satellite images of three sites in Beirut that it says are being used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group to hide underground precision missile production facilities.
The sites, located within close proximity of Beirut’s international airport, were first revealed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night, during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
The factories, which are meant to convert regular missiles into more accurate precision ones, are not believed to be up and running. The Israel Defense Forces says they are currently being constructed with Iranian assistance.
They army says it is “another example of Iranian entrenchment in the region and the negative influence of Iran.”
The target of the Israeli airstrike last week, in which a Russian spy plane was inadvertently shot down by Syrian air defenses, was machinery used in the production of precision missiles, which was en route to Hezbollah, The Times of Israel learns.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hezbollah began working on these surface-to-surface missile facilities last year.
One of the sites is located under a soccer field used by a Hezbollah-sponsored team; another is just north of the Rafic Hariri International Airport; and the third is underneath the Beirut port and less than 500 meters from the airport’s tarmac.
These three are not the only facilities that the IDF believes are being used by Hezbollah for the manufacturing and storage of precision missiles.
“Israel is monitoring these sites with a variety of capabilities and tools, has significant knowledge of the precision project and is working to fight it with a variety of operational responses, techniques and tools,” the army says.
— Judah Ari Gross
