IAF destroyed secret Hezbollah rocket factory ahead of ceasefire

The strike disabled Hezbollah’s capacity to produce mid-range rockets in Lebanon, according to the report.

By JNS

Shortly before the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect early Wednesday morning, Israeli jets dropped about 100 bombs on a top-secret factory for producing mid-range rockets, according to Hebrew media reports.

The Israel Defense Forces had been aware of the facility in Janta, a city situated about 75 kilometers (46 miles) east of Beirut, for some time despite Hezbollah’s efforts to camouflage it, Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday.

The strike disabled Hezbollah’s capacity to produce mid-range rockets in Lebanon, according to the report.

Also on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit said that since the start of hostilities with Hezbollah on Oct 8., 2023, the Iranian proxy group has lost 70% of its unmanned aerial vehicles.

“Since the beginning of the war and within the framework of ‘Operation Northern Arrows’ in particular, fighter jets under the direction of the Intelligence Directorate and the air force launched an extensive effort to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure of Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit,” also known as Unit 127, according to the IDF.

Some 200 targets were hit as part of this effort, including more than 150 drone launch sites and some 20 weapons depots and 30 headquarters used by the unit, according to the IDF. Four factories for drones and cruise missiles were also hit.

“With the help of these attacks, Hezbollah lost 70% of its stock of UAVs, and about 30 cruise missiles intended to harm Israeli citizens,” according to the statement.

Moreover, the Aerial Unit’s chain of command has been “eliminated” with the assassination of its operations officer, Jafar Ali Samaha, on Tuesday night in a targeted strike, the military said.

The IDF eliminated the commander of Unit 127, Muhammad Hussein Sarour (“Abu Saleh”), in Beirut on Sept. 26. A month later it eliminated Khadr al-Abed Bahja, the officer responsible for the unit’s Northern Litani sector.