Hezbollah – Utilizing an ML-20 Cannon from a Subterranean Location to Launch an Attack on Shtula. (July 11)

On Thursday, July 11, Hezbollah released a video documenting artillery fire directed at homes in the Shetula community. This appears to be the first publicly recorded use of artillery for this purpose. The artillery piece shown in the video is an ML-20 152mm howitzer, also known as the M-1937. This is an old Soviet artillery cannon with a maximum range of 17 kilometers. It is believed that Hezbollah obtained it from the Syrian army.

Al-Manar recently published a profile piece about Hezbollah’s artillery unit (a video identifying the weapon presented in the article will be published separately). The cannon was not shown in the article and was not shown in other videos.

Above: ML-20. (picture curtesy of Владимир Саппинен)

The video released by Hezbollah on July 11, the artillery cannon is seen installed in a fortified position located in an underground position within dense vegetation. Furthermore, it seems that in this particular instance, Hezbollah employed the tactic of firing from a back slope to reduce the capacity to ascertain the precise origin of the rocket launches.

Above: The cannon as shown in the video, pay attention to the reinforced underground position

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Picture of Boaz Shapira

Boaz Shapira

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