A translation of an article from Al-Modon (A Lebanese electronic newspaper based in Beirut) about Alma’s latest publications.
The number of publications by the Alma website, which is close to the Israeli intelligence, in the last month, about the political, military, and media structure of Hezbollah, including maps of its military sites in southern Lebanon, was not just an ordinary publication. Rather, it seemed different this time, given the nature of the targeted propaganda messages in conjunction with various political files, including the issue of demarcation of the maritime borders and the “Karish” gas field.
The occupation intelligence shed light on the ten members of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, in a series of articles that dealt with the composition of the association in general, with institutions, and its relationship to “the trade” in its scattered civilian entities. Rejected from the position of Chairman of the Executive Council, and his deputy, Ali Damoush. Then allocate an expanded profile of the latter and the rest of the members.
The Israeli intelligence article claimed that the Executive Council includes a senior military representative and a prominent delegate from Hezbollah’s security unit, but admitted that “it does not know their identities”. Although the activities of the units under the Executive Council are mostly civilian, the Hebrew article claimed that they have “a direct connection and repercussions on Hezbollah’s military and security activities, and without the efforts of the Executive Council and those of its various units, Hezbollah’s military activity will be severely affected,” he said.
The Alma website did not stop at this article, but instead devoted separate and detailed articles to the various structures of the Executive Council, such as the “Hezbollah’s Electronic Army” and the entities subject to the communications unit, passing through the social unit and those who are subject to it, in addition to the organizations operating under the Education Unit, and so on.
The Alma Center appended its website with the latest articles about, according to what is mentioned in it, maps of Hezbollah’s military areas in southern Lebanon. This confirms that the Israeli intelligence is behind the leaking of satellite footage and pictures of Israeli drones, as it is the exclusive owner of them, and who decided to publish them for many purposes.
The Alma website claimed that many areas across southern Lebanon are Hezbollah’s military sites, so entry is prohibited, whether by local residents, UNIFIL forces, or even the Lebanese army. It also claimed that there are areas that are close to the villages, and others near the bases of the Lebanese army and “UNIFIL”.
According to Israeli intelligence, these areas are used by Hezbollah, both routinely and in times of emergency, for training purposes and as storage depots for weapons, except for the allocation of deployment areas, and defensive areas, in addition to areas for launching missiles. Also, the article, which is written by the Israeli researcher Tal Beeri, attached data that included the mapping of dozens of these areas in southern Lebanon. “We will release the information gradually,” Beeri said. “And for the sake of convenience, we’ve numbered the regions in ascending order. “For convenience, we have numbered the regions in ascending order”.
Here, Beeri spoke about the location of “Area No.1” near the village of Al-Mansouri, south of Tyre, near the coast, as well as the “second area used by Hezbollah next to the same village.”
By analyzing in-depth the motives of the Israeli intelligence and the decision on publishing at this time, urgent questions arise: What motivates Israel to reveal its security information and maps to Hezbollah? Is it a negotiation through the media? Are there messages of threat or deterrence?
An expert in strategic affairs, Saeed Wahba, who resides in the 48 lands, commented to Al-Modon that the publication involves an exchange of messages that transcend Hezbollah and Lebanon, to be between Israel and Iran, because Tel Aviv considers Hezbollah, in sum, a Lebanese arm of Iran. And that the association is nothing more than a front for the Islamic Republic. However, Wahba stressed, at the same time, that the publication of Hezbollah’s activities and military sites aims to deter any war or imminent escalation with Lebanon, in light of the “promised” negotiations under American auspices, in connection with Israel’s attack on Lebanon’s gas, under the title “Karish” field in the Mediterranean.
Wahba stressed that Alma’s articles carried messages related to the psychological media war, out of the Jewish state’s keenness to “reassure” its Israeli people, on the one hand, that it is “closely aware” of every “movement and whisper of Hezbollah across the border.” On the other hand, it intends to warn Hezbollah, along with the Lebanese state, of the consequences of any attack against Israel, especially since its positions are exposed, which will push the association to preoccupy with security measures to reposition and hide its positions again, instead of contemplating any strike against an Israeli target.
Israel’s psychological warfare was manifested by waving a series of publications about Hezbollah and its activities, waving an “additional publication”, and that what was revealed was nothing but a little information, according to the prosecution. Wahba considered that any escalation that occurs now, would be tantamount to getting out of control and not from the will of any regional or national association, describing the Israeli publication of Hezbollah’s military sites, as well as its Executive Council, and its method of work, as “muscle display, as part of a media war that deters any escalation”.
In addition to the purpose of deterring war, it is not possible to ignore a second goal of the Israeli propaganda publication about maps of Hezbollah’s military sites, and before that about its institutions and its chain of command, which is to remind us that Lebanon is another area, like Syria, Iraq, and Iran itself, that falls within the “shadow wars.” that occur between Tel Aviv and Tehran, with the emphasis that this security war has become semi-secret, that is not completely secret, nor absolutely public, and that it is used at this stage, as an alternative to a military war.
Experts in Israeli affairs mentioned to Al-Modon a third motive for Israel’s security deployment, related to the desire to make the “alleged disclosure” a means to intensify international and regional pressure on Iran and Hezbollah, given that the latter’s activities “crossed the lines, with evidence that some of its sites are located near the site of the UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon.
