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The navy has, numerous times in the past, acknowledged that it carries out surveillance of Israel’s enemies, sometimes at a great distance.
By YONAH JEREMY BOB NOVEMBER 13, 2024 19:05
The Israeli Navy operates between northern Israel and the Gulf of Eilat, September 5, 2024.
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Israel’s navy has had a significant hand in blowing up Hezbollah installations and commanders while also a key hand in surveillance of distant enemies, the IDF said on Wednesday.
On November 3, the IDF announced that it had struck senior Hezbollah aerial unit commander Ali Barakat.
Barakat was one of the commanders of Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit (127) and was a significant source of knowledge for the unit, spending over a decade planning and carrying out UAV attacks on Israel.
He was also involved in the development of cruise missiles and UAVs for Hezbollah.
What the IDF did not say that day was that the navy had carried out the attack, something which it admitted to on Wednesday, including with the footage of the attack.
On October 5, the IDF announced that it had killed the Hamas commander in Lebanon, Said Alaa Naif Ali, in the Tripoli area of Lebanon.
Further, the IDF had said that he led attacks against Israelis and worked to recruit operatives for Hamas in Lebanon.
However, only on Wednesday did the IDF reveal that the navy carried out the attack.
In yet another attack, the navy destroyed Hezbollah's naval headquarters in Beirut, which had held dozens of its ships and was the location where its units trained for attacks on Israel.
Moreover, the navy, in other operations, has struck six sites in Beirut that held rockets with long-range capabilities reaching 100-300 kilometers.
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Altogether, it has fired more than ten missiles at targets in Beirut without getting into its attacks in other parts of Lebanon.
Previous naval activity
Besides these accomplishments, the navy has numerous times in the past acknowledged that it carries out surveillance of Israel’s enemies, sometimes at a great distance.
In a previous Jerusalem Post interview, submarine commander Maj. “P” said, “We travel very far from the State of Israel. We can travel to any body of water and secretly. It doesn’t matter what the mission is. This is a big advantage in terms of being able to maneuver in secret. The ‘field’ in which we ‘play’ provides security to the country on a day-to-day basis.”
Asked about Iran on Wednesday, the IDF said that “70% of the world is water” and that “there are both threats and opportunities.”
Likewise, the IDF said that foreign naval forces have been traveling near Iran lately.
Yemen is another distant country currently in conflict with Israel, where the Jewish state has had intelligence in order to carry out multiple attacks.
Just on Tuesday, IDF Naval Chief Admiral David Saar Salame named the new “Dragon” submarine at a ceremony in Germany,
Israel is due to receive the submarine later in 2025.
According to foreign reports, Israel has submarines capable of firing nuclear weapons.
Moreover, the navy has carried out surveillance and struck Hezbollah targets in a number of areas deeper into the country than where IDF ground forces have progressed, given that those forces are limited to southern Lebanon.
In addition, the navy has provided constant defense to Israel’s maritime borders and to its strategic sites, such as its natural gas rigs.
This has included clandestine operations that can reveal Hezbollah and other countries’ plans to threaten or prepare to fire on Israel, but before they actually fire, in order to enable the air force to preemptively strike such enemy locations.
One area that has been especially challenging has been defending against Houthi attacks on Eilat, given that when the navy helps shoot down threats, it must contend with an extremely small zone of defense so as not to invade Egyptian or Jordanian airspace – or it would need to coordinate with those countries if necessary.
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