An Israeli flag flutters above the wreckage of a tank on a hill in the Golan Heights overlooking the border with Syria. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — In response to the recent Israeli strikes on the Bekaa region of Lebanon, Hezbollah claimed attack on Wednesday on two the Israeli military bases: the Tsnobar logistics base in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights with a number of Katyusha rockets and the Amiad base, north of the Tiberias lake, with a swarm of drones.
Hezbollah claimed that the strikes in Tsnobar "hit their targets" and came in response to Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon, in which Israel struck what it claimed to be a "Hezbollah weapons depot" in the Bekaa valley on Tuesday night. These four strikes killed one person and injured 20 others, including eight children and a pregnant woman.
For its part, Israel claimed Hezbollah's rockets on Wednesday landed in residential areas, injuring one person. Israel threatened to retaliate.
What is the Tsnobar base?
The Israeli Tsnobar ("pinetree" in Hebrew) logistics base is located in the occupied Syrian Golan, around 18 kilometers from the Lebanese border. The base, protected by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system, is a logistics hub affiliated with the Northern Command of the Israeli army. It serves as a training ground for the Israeli infantry forces and houses a center for artillery ammunition, according to information published by Hezbollah.
According the Israeli army website, the Tsnobar base, along with another called Al Furan, is a relatively new training camp that was inaugurated in the Golan Heights in February 2018 as part of the army's three-year infrastructure renovation program in the area.
The army says the goal was "to dramatically improve the infrastructure" for the fighters at the border and "enable the units that come for training in the command area to a high and responsive standard quality logistics."
A real-time Google Maps view of the base shows several different buildings located in an open field, east of the town of Katzrin.
While Hezbollah claimed it targeted the Tsnobar base, the Israeli army said that approximately 50 projectiles were fired from Lebanon with some falling in Katzrin.
A house burning in Katzrin, in the occupied Golan Heights. (Credit: Israeli army)
The Israeli army said residential areas were hit, houses were destroyed, and claimed there was no military target in the area.
In late July, Hezbollah targeted another military base in the occupied Golan, right before the attack on Majdel Shams, which killed 12 children and teenagers, was carried out. Israel and the U.S. blame this attack on Hezbollah, while the party denies its involvement and claim that it was Israel who shot down a missile it was trying to intercept.
Second strike
This is the second time Hezbollah targets the Tsnobar base. In May, Hezbollah fired 50 Katyusha rockets toward the base. It reported that the attacks "hit their targets" and were in response to the "Israeli enemy's aggression on the villages of Houla and Najariya in southern Lebanon,” which killed two children and a Hezbollah member.
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif Naboulsi previously told L'Orient Today that the group is targeting the Golan "in an attempt to dissuade the enemy from pursuing its policy of eliminating our fighters."
Military experts also said that relocating the war to the Golan Heights allows Hezbollah to diversify its targets and continue hostilities without crossing certain red lines.
Hezbollah has also been strengthening its positions in the Golan area for some time, with Israel previously revealing an alleged attempt by Hezbollah to establish a secret unit with greater capabilities to operate against Israel from the Syrian part of the Golan Heights.
Ami'ad base
Also in response to Israel's attacks on the Bekaa, Hezbollah said it launched squadrons of drones on the Israeli Northern Corps reserve headquarters, the Galilee Division reserve base (the Israel Defense Forces 91st Division), and its logistical warehouses in Ami'ad, some 30 kilometers west of the Tsnobar base, in the Upper Galilee.
This base is located north of the Tiberias lake.
Not much information is available regarding these infrastructures. Israeli media reported, two days ago, that it's in that camp that two soldiers were bitten by rats in the nose and ears while sleeping, over the past weekend.
Exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel have become almost daily since the war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli territory.
These clashes have claimed at least 586 lives in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also at least 108 civilians, according to L'Orient Today's tally. In Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.
Fears of a widespread conflict have been high since the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah's military leader Fouad Shukur in his stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut in late July, and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which Iran blamed on Israel. Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate.