IDF home front to beef up 20 strategic sites, fearing Hezbollah rockets

The IDF will strengthen the defenses around 20 infrastructure sites of strategic importance that are likely to be targeted by a Hezbollah missile attack. 

By World Israel News Staff

The Home Front Command of the Israel Defense Forces announced it will protect roughly 20 infrastructure sites throughout the country from Hezbollah missile attacks, Ha’aretz reported on Tuesday.

Israeli intelligence says the terror group will likely target the strategic sites in order to negatively affect Israel’s capabilities.

The sites haven’t yet been identified but include properties under the authority of the Israel Electric Corporation and the Israel Natural Gas Lines.

Ha’aretz reports that the intelligence assessments, together with a 2016 State Comptroller report that found such facilities were underprotected, were what prompted the move by the Home Front Command.

Defensive measures will include reinforced concrete walls, stronger ceilings, and stronger doors to protect against shrapnel.

Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, has received technological know-how from the Islamic Republic in regards to its missile capabilities.

I24News reported on Tuesday that it identified the Iranian Revolutionary Guards engineer in charge of Hezbollah’s precision missile project in Lebanon as Majed Naveed.

On July 12, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, boasted that his group is much stronger than during the 2006 war and is capable of striking anywhere in Israel. Pointing to a map, Nasrallah identified a list of targets he said his group could strike, saying “in all fields, the resistance has developed in quantity and quality.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded two days later that Israel would deliver a “crushing” blow if Hezbollah tried anything.

Israel’s Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in October 2018 that the Hezbollah missile arsenal has grown to more than 150,000. A month before, in September 2018, Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations General Assembly. He displayed a map marking three sites near Beirut’s airport where Hezbollah was developing precision missiles.

“In Lebanon, Iran is directing Hezbollah to build secret sites to convert inaccurate projectiles into precision guided missiles, missiles that can target deep inside Israel within an accuracy of ten meters,” he said.

In December, Netanyahu said that because Israel exposed Hezbollah’s secret sites, the terror group shut them down.

AP contributed to this report.