The IDF spokesperson announced Tuesday that the IAF destroyed two launchers belonging to Hezbollah Monday night in the Al-Mansouri and A-Taybeh regions of southern Lebanon. The spokesperson announced that the launchers were ready for immediate use.
However, a closer look at the location chosen for the launchers raises some critical questions. “The launchers were set up only 620 meters from a UNIFIL base,” revealed Ben Tzion Macales, an independent geo-analyst and geolocation expert. “Someone there was not doing their mandated job, assuming they’re even interested in doing it.”
Much like their counterparts in Hamas, Macales added that, according to his findings, Hezbollah chooses to hide its weapons and equipment among the civilian population.
“The weapons warehouse destroyed yesterday in the Bekaa Valley was also located in rural, agricultural terrain, affecting the fields and constructions around it,” he added. “Likewise, in July, another warehouse placed among civilian buildings was destroyed by the IDF in Tyre. Several people were injured lightly from glass shards following the attack, which shows the proximity of these weapons to civilians – risking the nearby villages and towns.”
Warehouses targeted by Hezbollah
Another targeted warehouse used by Hezbollah in June was east of Tyre, near Wadi Jilou. “This was a building smack in the middle of an industrial area. Here, too, no people were affected during the Israeli targeting, yet Hezbollah’s choice to place it there shows their approach to human lives,” commented Macales.
In April, Christian citizens from the village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon acted against suspected Hezbollah militants who planned to use the village as a platform to fire rockets at Israel. Some of them accused the Iranian-backed militia of placing launchers near churches and schools. In contrast, others launched an online campaign reading, “Rmeish refuses to be exploited as a platform for war!”
Macales, 30, is a self-taught geolocator who uses freely available online tools to find the exact locations of attacks, launches, videos, and pictures posted online in a wide geographical area from Gaza to Iran. He operates a Twitter account and a Telegram channel in which he shares his findings with his followers and has exposed the locations of Hezbollah’s aerial defense systems and the achievements of IDF forces in the Gaza Strip, as seen above.
“Geolocation is a method of giving coordinates to objects, photographs, events, and addresses on the globe,” explained Morales. “Most of my work is taking imagery from ground level and the air, mostly from current events, and geolocating them on the coordinates. The key is accumulating enough elements from each frame to compare them to the satellite imagery of the same area. Once an event is geolocated, it adds another level to the news cycle, giving a spatial view for the media consumer.”
Macales argues that not many media outlets use this method due to its rigorous nature. “It requires much training and repetitively reviewing images and comparing them to a birds-eye view. I decided to use this skill to add a geographical input for an extra layer of information,” he elaborated, referring to his Telegram channel and X account. “The purpose is to give the audience a spatial viewpoint of the news. It enriches our understanding of what is happening on the ground and provides clearer information on the enemy’s movements and our achievements,” he concluded.
Macales can be followed on X in English and Hebrew (https://x.com/bentzionmacales) and on telegram in Hebrew (https://t.me/BenTzionM)