Hezbollah launched a new wave of missile attacks toward northern Israel on Sunday morning, marking the first reported use of its “Fadi 1 and Fadi 2” missiles since the current conflict began.

The group announced it had fired dozens of these rockets, in three different salvos, two aimed at the Ramat David military base and airfield, south-east of Haifa, the largest city in northern Israel,  and the third toward the headquarters of the Rafael Advanced Defense System company, in an industrial zone north of Haifa.

(Credit: Jaimee Lee Haddad/L'Orient Today)

This is the first time in nearly a year of cross-border fighting that Hezbollah has targeted the Haifa area, though the party released a video in July that reportedly showed images captured by a drone it had flown over Ramat David.

Israel has not confirmed whether either of these military targets were struck, but Israeli media has reported hits in three other locations: a two-story building in Kiryat Bialik, in the northern suburbs of Haifa; a house in the village of Moreshet, about 17 kilometers east of Haifa; and a dairy farm in Beit Shaarim in the Jezreel Valley, about 18 kilometers southeast of Haifa. Seven people were wounded.

This is the first time Hezbollah has mentioned the Fadi missiles publicly. What do we know?

Fadi-1

Al-Mayadeen, a channel sympathetic to the "Axis of Resistance," identified the Fadi-1 as a 220 mm diameter rocket, fired from a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), with a range of up to 80 kilometers.

A source close to Hezbollah told L'Orient Today on Sunday that the Fadi-1 is a variant of the Syrian-manufactured Khaybar-1 rocket, which Hezbollah is known to modify.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) "Missile Threat" website, the Khaibar-1 rocket is "an unguided artillery rocket." Despite being unguided, it is still "more accurate than most indigenous Hezbollah/Hamas rockets, and can be stored more easily due to increased durability." 

With a range of 100 kilometers, it can carry a 150 kilogram payload and is "typically equipped with large, anti-personnel warheads," CSIS explains.

This rocket is 6.3 meters long and has a launch weight of approximately 750 kilograms, according to the same source.

Fadi-2

The Fadi-2 is a 30.2 centimeter rocket, also fired from an MLRS, with a range of 105 kilometers, according to CSIS.

The source close to Hezbollah said the Fadi 2 is also a modified Syrian rocket — a version of the Syrian M302 "Tishreen" rocket, adapted by Hezbollah and boasting medium-range capabilities with relatively high accuracy and a range of up to 100 kilometers.

Military experts told L'Orient Today that a missile's diameter determines both its destructive power and its range.

New to the scene

It's not confirmed which type of rocket hit the building in Kiryat Bialik, but the commander of the Kiryat Fire and Rescue Station told Israel's Channel 12 news that he felt the level of destruction implied more heavy-duty weaponry than what had been seen before.  "I'm not a missile expert," he said, "but my assessment is that this was a missile of an order of magnitude larger than what we are used to."

Before the Sunday morning salvo, the Fadi missile had never before been publicly mentioned by Hezbollah.

Al-Manar, a Hezbollah news channel, reported that the Fadi missile is named after Fadi Tawil, a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in a significant operation against the Israelis in 1987.

He was from the southern village of Khirbit Silm, in the Bint Jbeil district, and was the brother of Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil who was one of the first high-ranking Hezbollah military commanders assassinated in the latest fighting with Israel.

According to a report published by Al-Mayadeen, a news channel close to the "Axis of Resistance," both missiles were featured in Hezbollah's "Imad 4" video.

The video shows Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) hidden in tunnels used by Hezbollah, pointing toward the outside, but L'Orient Today could not immediately identify the type of missiles these systems are capable of propelling.

After the "Imad 4" video was published, a Hezbollah spokesperson told L'Orient Today that “the weapons shown in the video are precision missiles.”