A woman using a smartphone in Gjakova, Kosovo, on Oct. 22, 2024. (Credit: Armend Nimani/AFP)
BEIRUT — Beirut witnessed intense GPS spoofing on Wednesday, the most severe since early December, Mohammad Najem, executive director of the Beirut–based digital rights organization SMEX, told L'Orient Today.
Jamming or spoofing was one of the many forms of the last conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which started in October 2023 and escalated in September 2024. During the war, which ended after Lebanon and Israel reached a ceasefire in late November, Lebanese citizens experienced regular disruptions to their geolocation, particularly on Google Maps.
Najem confirmed the claims made by the X account "Lebanon Private Jets," stating that aircraft locations were spoofed into a circle over Ghobeiri, Bir Hassan and Madine al-Riyadieh, where the funeral of Hezbollah's former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah will take place on Sunday.
"GPS spoofing is back in Beirut. People’s locations are now suddenly showing up at the stadium where Nasrallah’s funeral will be held on Sunday," X user Ahmad Baydoun posted on X on Wednesday.
At the beginning of February, Hezbollah's Secretary-General Naim Qassem announced that the funerals of Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, his expected successor, would take place on Feb. 23.
Nasrallah and Safieddine were both killed by Israeli strikes during its war with Hezbollah. Nasrallah was killed in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27 and Safieddine was killed in a separate attack around one week later.
Last March, a source from the flight safety administration at Rafik Hariri International Airport told L'Orient Today that two specific types of interference with signals used by aircraft to orient themselves in the air had been detected: “Jamming” and “spoofing.” Jamming refers to the freezing of a GPS signal: It freezes, stops responding and the location is lost. Spoofing, on the other hand, refers to jamming that causes a user to change location.