File image.
Hezbollah has released video footage of its attack on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Mount Meron aerial control, command and surveillance base on January 6.
The footage shows several projectiles impacting the base, with at least two damaging large domes housing radar systems.
Hezbollah said it fired 62 projectiles of different types at the key base, which is located around eight kilometers away from the border with Lebanon, as an “initial response” to the recent assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of the Palestinian Hamas Movement.
Al-Arouri was killed along with six other members of Hamas, including two commanders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in an airstrike that targeted the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, a stronghold of Hezbollah, on January 2. Both Hamas and Hezbollah held Israel responsible for the assassination and vowed to respond.
The IDF responded to the attack on Mount Meron base by carrying out a series of air and artillery strikes on southern Lebanon. Hezbollah said that six of its fighters were killed.
Shortly after the attack, the IDF’s new giant missile-detecting balloon, which has largely been out of service during the past year and a half, was spotted over northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.
The detection system, dubbed the “High Availability Aerostat System,” or “Sky Dew” in Israel, is deployed at high altitudes to detect a range of aerial threats, including long-range missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
The system is not yet operational and has seen significant setbacks with its deployment. However, Israel’s Kan news reported that the system was deployed near the border with Lebanon after components ordered from the United States arrived.
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The IDF didn’t report any losses after the attack on Mount Meron base. However, the rushed deployment of the Sky Dew indicates that the base sustained some serious damage, at least when it comes to its radars and other surveillance equipment.
Hezbollah and its allies, including Hamas, have been clashing with the IDF along the border since the war in the Gaza Strip first broke out.
The attack on Mount Meron base was a very serious escalation by Hezbollah as it demonstrated the group’s ability to blind the IDF on its northern front. It’s worth noting that the group has already destroyed most of Israel’s surveillance equipment along the border with Lebanon.
