A tow truck evacuates a damaged car after a Hezbollah strike on Kiryat Bialik, in Haifa's northern suburbs, in northern Israel, on Sept. 22, 2024. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP )
"Beirut was the red line, today there is no red line," the Israeli army radio announced on Friday, following the strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital that killed 51 people, 15 of which were Hezbollah commanders. The following day, Lebanon experienced its most violent day of bombings in the south since the start of the conflict on Oct. 8.
In the early hours of Sunday, and again at dawn, Hezbollah carried out a series of rocket and missile strikes against northern Israel, targeting the Haifa region in particular. In three separate statements issued between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m., party claimed responsibility for strikes on the outskirts of this major port city, the largest in Israel's north, some 30 kilometers from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The two sites targeted were the Ramat David military base and airport, located to the south-east of Haifa, 46 kilometers from the Blue Line, and the headquarters of the Rafael Advanced Defense System military technology company, located in an industrial zone to the north of the same city. These two positions had previously been the subject of videos published on Hezbollah's Telegram channel in a series called "al-Hodhod," which featured images photographed using a drone.
Israel has not confirmed whether either of these military targets were hit, but Israeli media has reported damage in three other locations: a two-story building in Kiryat Bialik, a house in the village of Morushet, and a dairy farm in Moshav Beit Shaarim. Seven people were wounded.
Hezbollah said its operations were a "response to the intensive bombardment of southern Lebanon over the past few days" and "an initial response" to Israeli operations against the party through the rigging and simultaneous detonation of the party's pagers and walkie-talkies earlier in the week. Israel's president denied responsibility on Sunday, despite extensive reporting to the contrary, including a New York Times article citing twelve current and former defense and intelligence officials briefed on the attack.
The 'most important air base' in northern Israel
On Sunday morning, Hezbollah released a new video detailing the composition of the Ramat David base, without specifying which parts had been hit or destroyed. The images analyze elements of what Hezbollah presents as the "only air base in northern Israel" and one of the most "important" in the country. In particular, a dozen "combat squadrons" and a series of military air vehicles, mostly helicopters are featured.
According to the Israeli army website, this base includes an "underground hangar" system where aircraft are parked after landing to protect them against attacks. Since 2020, several fighter squadrons have been dismantled or relocated. Helicopters are still stationed at this base, notably for maritime reconnaissance operations, according to an article published in 2018 on the Air Force website.
Rafael
At around 6 a.m., Hezbollah then carried out an attack presented as its "first response to the massacre" of Tuesday and Wednesday, referred to by the party as the "pager and walkie-talkie massacre."
The operation used "dozens of Fadi-1 and 2 and Katyusha rockets" to target the military industrial site belonging to Rafael Advanced Defence System, often referred to as simply Rafael, the Hebrew acronym for "Armaments Development Authority."
This military technology company specializes in the construction of platforms for the Iron Dome air defense system, and is headquartered in an industrial zone northeast of Haifa, near the densely populated town of Kiryat Bialik.
On its website, the company states that it was founded in 1948 and that it "develops, manufactures and maintains technoloqical products and combat defense systems for air, land, naval, space and digital applications."
"Rafael provides the world's warfighters with today's most advanced technologies and vital defense solutions that ensure operational superiority," the site reads.
Rafael's "products and solutions" include platforms for the Iron Dome and "David's Slingshot," another of the Israeli army's air defense systems, a laser weapons system, several precision missile systems and "composite space structures," including those used in telescopes and satellites.
In the first video in the al-Hodhod series, this location is described as a "strategic region" that includes "the Haifa military base," the Israeli army's main naval base in the north of the country, and "largest commercial port" in all of Israel (statistics confirm this).
