A fire on the Israeli side of the Lebanese-Israeli border following Hezbollah attacks, June 18, 2024. (Credits: Gil Eliyahu/Reuters)
While Amos Hochstein was conducting meetings in Beirut on Tuesday to address the escalating situation at the Lebanon-Israel border diplomatically, Hezbollah released a nine-minute video through its "war media" showing footage from an aircraft over various areas the party claimed to be in Israeli territory.
Hezbollah announced the release of these "important scenes" during the day, urging people to "watch and analyze" them, emphasizing their timing with Hochstein's visit and Israeli threats of war against Lebanon.
The release of the video also followed an Israeli official's statement that Hezbollah had been “forced” to withdraw its forces 8 kilometers into Lebanese territory, a claim which the party denied.
The footage, filmed by Hezbollah's aerial division, showed the port of Haifa. It also claimed that it showed “an industrial site operated by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., platforms for the Iron Dome, missile warehouses, and missile component manufacturing sites,” but the images were not confirmed.
The docks of Haifa port visible by satellite (top), and in the video broadcast by Hezbollah (bottom). Image edited by L'Orient Today.
Hezbollah also claimed to have overflown Krayot, a densely populated area northeast of Haifa, home to 260,000 Israeli settlers. The video described the strategic importance of the Haifa port area, including the main naval base of the Israeli army in the north and significant commercial port facilities.
This was the second instance in three days of Hezbollah using drone footage to make a statement. Two days earlier, they had released a video showing a drone attack on an Israeli military base.
Today, Hezbollah resumed its attacks on Israeli territory, with three new attacks reported, including against an Israeli artillery site and a Merkava tank. In response, Israeli artillery bombarded multiple areas in southern Lebanon including Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya district), Odaisseh, Taybeh and Shehabiyeh (Sour district).
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
