IDF declassifies evidence of Hizbullah presence in Lebanon

YAAKOV KATZ
07/07/2010 17:23

Ahead of the anniversary of the 2nd Lebanon War, army reveals footage, videos, maps, says group has about 20,000 guerrilla fighters throughout southern Lebanon preventing Israeli incursion.

Ahead of the anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, IDF Northern Command on Wednesday declassified for the last time evidence of Hizbullah's growing presence inside close to 200 villages in southern Lebanon Using the village of el-Hiyyam which is located about 20km north of Kiryat Shmona, the IDF revealed in extensive footage, videos and maps the homes that Hizbullah has taken over and used to establish weapons storage centers, command and control centers as well as the location of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), some of them weighing up to half a ton, which are located throughout the village.

The IDF recently dispatched a delegation to United Nations headquarters in New York to present the evidence to the international community. The evidence was also presented recently to the new commander of UNIFIL, Maj-Gen Alberto Asarta Cuevas.

The IDF said that Hizbullah today maintains a force of about 20,000 guerrilla fighters throughout southern Lebanon, who are responsible for preventing an IDF ground incursion, as well as activating Hizbullah's extensive missile capability which allows them to strike any point within Israel today.

Hizbullah is estimated to have 40,000 short-, medium- and long-range missiles.

Hizbullah has split up its forces in southern Lebanon to three different divisions: The Southern Division, the IDF said, consists of 5,000 guerrilla fighters, 30,000 missiles and rockets as well as a number of subdivisions. Each subdivision is responsible for approximately 15 villages. Each village has between 20 and 200 fighters, hundreds of mortar shells, hundreds of short-and medium- range rockets, as well as a number of command centers.

In the maps unveiled by the IDF, Hizbullah weapons caches are shown approximately 50 meters from schools and hospitals. Storage and command centers are located in most cases inside or adjacent to the homes of Lebanese civilians.

'It is important to show the world that Hizbullah has built up its military infrastructure inside villages with the objective that we will kill the maximum amount of civilians in a future conflict" a senior IDF officer said Wednesday.

"We want to warn that if we are attacked by Hizbullah - this may happen."

While four years after the Lebanon War, the prevalent IDF assessment is that war with Hizbullah is currently of low probability, the military still fears that Hizbullah will try to attack Israel to avenge the 2008 assassination of the group's military commander, Imad Mugniyeh in Damascus.

The scenarios the IDF prepares for includes a possible kidnapping along the border, and to infiltrate an Israeli borderline community.

"We see Hizbullah's grip inside villages and we view an infiltration into Israel as the primary threat," Colonel Ronen Moreli, commander of the 300 brigade, told reporters wednesdsay.