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During the annual conference of the “Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy” at Reichmann University on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented images of an “airport” built in southern Lebanon, near Birket Jabbour and Jezzine, approximately 20 kilometers from Metulla, a northern Israeli border town. According to the Israeli minister, the Iranian flag was seen on the runways of this aviation facility, which he considered as clear evidence of it being an “Iranian base for terrorism” used to carry out “hostile actions against Israel.”

Following this information, Yoav Gallant warned Hezbollah against any hostile operations, stating that “Lebanon will pay the price.”

Satellite images taken by the American company Planet Labs PBC at the end of July show a 1.2 km-long runway under construction, accompanied by hangars. Images from the same location taken in January reveal an unpaved runway, confirming that construction work has indeed been carried out.

While the Israeli minister believes that this runway can accommodate medium-sized aircrafts, an anonymous source widely cited by Israeli media and Reuters claims that it could serve as a launching base for large drones. According to the same source, the direction of the runway suggests that it would primarily be used for external operations.

So far, neither Hezbollah nor Iranian officials have commented on this information.

A “psychological war” led by Hezbollah

In the absence of an investigation conducted by Lebanese authorities, several questions remain unanswered: when was this airbase actually built, and what is its strategic purpose?

According to security sources interviewed by This is Beirut, the airbase is, in fact, a training ground which has been used by Hezbollah soldiers since the liberation of southern Lebanon in 2000. Initially equipped with basic infrastructure, this facility has gradually expanded, culminating in the recent extension of the runway. Therefore, it may not be a recent construction, a hypothesis reinforced by the fact that the Israeli Defense Minister did not specify the date when the publicly presented pictures were taken.

According to Khalil Helou, a retired Lebanese army general, the runway photographed by the Israeli military is used for the takeoff and landing of reconnaissance drones as well as missile-carrying drones. The revelation of this runway’s existence coincides with the announcement made by Iranian President Ibrahim Raissi, fifteen days earlier, regarding the production of the new Iranian drone “Mohajir,” capable of carrying missiles over a range of 2,000 km.

Iran has significantly developed its drone technology,including the “Shahid” and “Mohajir “models (AFP)

However, the strategic significance of this hypothetical airbase is highly uncertain. According to Helou, “establishing a runway 20 kilometers from the border makes no military sense because these drones could be launched from a safer and more distant area, given the range achieved by Iranian drones.”

On several occasions, Hezbollah launched reconnaissance drones towards Israel from Syria, especially from the Golan Heights. In 2015, an airstrip belonging to Hezbollah was even discovered in Hormel, far from the Lebanese-Israeli border.

“It could, therefore, be an attempt by Hezbollah to provoke tensions, as it did when it set up two tents along the Blue Line in June,” says Khalil Helou, relying on the pictures released by Israeli authorities. The runway is clearly visible in these photographs, along with the signaling and landing platform that complies with international standards. For him, there is no doubt that Hezbollah made no attempt at concealing this airbase.

“Suicidal measure”

Barah Mikhail, the Director of the Political Science and International Relations Program at Saint-Louis University in Madrid, believes that it would be “suicidal to establish an airfield on the border with Israel when the Israeli army systematically bombs any Iranian munitions shipment it identifies in Syria,” a country that hosts numerous drone launch platforms controlled by Hezbollah.

The opening of the new “Jihad Museum ” in Baalbeck at the end of August is part of the same psychological warfare strategy, centered around promoting Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

In fact, the militia party is showcasing Russian-made surface-to-air missiles. It is thus revealing, for the first time in its history, that it owns anti-aircraft weaponry. This strategic move serves multiple purposes: enhancing Hezbollah’s military credibility, potentially escalating tensions at the border, or using these strategic assets as bargaining chips in dealings with the Israeli government.

While the verbal escalation between Israel and Hezbollah persists, and with concerns of a potential return to hostilities, the Lebanese authorities are, as always, conspicuously absent. “The executive authority must take measures to dismantle this airport, which violates United Nations Resolution 1701,” asserts Helou, who firmly believes that safeguarding Lebanon’s territorial integrity should be solely entrusted to the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah: ideal enemy to unite a divided Israeli society

On the Israeli side, the Defense Minister’s statement comes at a time of significant political tensions and divisions within the Israeli security apparatus. The issue at hand is the reform project of the judicial system, which aims to weaken its powers in relation to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).

Faced with a reform seen as authoritarian and a threat to Israel’s status as the “only democracy in the Middle East,” a significant opposition has formed among Israeli army reservists.

Several political and military leaders, including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Chief of the Israeli Defense Forces Dan Halutz, and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice Aaron Barak, have publicly expressed their opposition to the reform, creating a significant rift within the Israeli state. Many soldiers have declared that they would refuse to serve if the reform, currently under review by the Supreme Court, was to be approved.

Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoanne Gallant (AFP)

“We must show our enemies that when Israel is threatened, its population knows how to mobilize all its resources and set aside its differences,” stated the Defense Minister following his revelations about the airbase. “The internal struggles that pit several factions within the State of Israel have infiltrated the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) and are weakening it to a point it can no longer sustain,” he added.

Last August, the Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation, David Amsalem, adopted a similar tone, accusing reservists opposed to the reform of potentially causing a future military defeat: “If 90% of our reservists refuse to serve, then Nasrallah will know how to take advantage of the situation,” he denounced.

As the State of Israel has never been more divided, and considering the repercussions of its internal fractures on the sacrosanct security apparatus, the escalation of tensions with Hezbollah serves as a valuable means for the Israeli leadership to rally its population around a common enemy and divert their attention from political controversies.

According to Barah Mikhail, a more political interpretation rather than a military-strategic one should be applied to this issue, “If Israel believed that this facility posed a real strategic risk, they would not have allowed it to be developed, given their knowledge of the terrain and the capabilities of their intelligence services.” He added, “Israeli authorities need to shift the focus and use the Hezbollah threat to quell internal criticism.”

Thus, the timing of these revelations appears to have been carefully considered, while Israel was most likely already aware of these military installations for some time.