Israel’s navy has had a significant hand in blowing up Hezbollah installations and commanders as well as in the surveillance of distant enemies, the IDF said on Wednesday.
Last Sunday, the military announced that it had struck senior Hezbollah aerial unit commander Ali Barakat, who was a commander of Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit (127) and a significant source of knowledge for the unit, spending over a decade planning and carrying out drone attacks on Israel.
He was also involved in the development of cruise missiles and UAVs for Hezbollah.
What the IDF did not state at the time was that the attack was carried out by the navy, which it acknowledged on Wednesday and showcased video footage of.
On October 5, the IDF announced that it killed Hamas commander Said Alaa Naif Ali in the Tripoli area of Lebanon. The IDF said that he led attacks against Israelis and worked to recruit operatives for Hamas in Lebanon.
Only on Wednesday did the military reveal that the navy was behind the attack.
In another operation, the navy struck Hezbollah naval headquarters in Beirut, which had held dozens of its ships and where its units trained for attacks on Israel.
In other operations, the navy struck six sites in Beirut that held rockets with long-range capabilities reaching 100-300 kilometers. Altogether, it fired more than 10 missiles at targets in Beirut.
Previous naval activity
This is without mentioning its strikes in other parts of Lebanon and adds to a list of operations the navy has carried out over the years, including surveillance of Israel’s enemies, sometimes at a great distance.
Submarine commander Maj. P. said in a previous interview, “We travel very far from the State of Israel. We can travel to any body of water 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.”
The military added that foreign naval forces have been traveling near Iran lately.
Israel is also currently in conflict with Yemen but has gathered the intelligence needed to carry out multiple attacks.
On Tuesday, IDF Naval chief Adm. David Saar Salame named the new “Dragon” submarine at a ceremony in Germany, which Israel is due to receive in 2025.
Foreign reports say Israel has submarines capable of firing nuclear weapons.
Moreover, the navy has carried out surveillance and struck Hezbollah targets in several areas deeper into the country than where ground troops are, as they are limited to southern Lebanon.
The navy has also provided constant defense to Israel’s maritime borders and its strategic sites, such as its natural gas rigs. This included clandestine operations, which could reveal Hezbollah and other countries’ plans to threaten or prepare to fire on Israel before these plans are carried out, to enable the air force to preemptively strike such locations.
One area that has been especially challenging has been defending against Houthi strikes 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.