GAME OVER: HEZBOLLAH DRONE FOOTAGE OF KEY ISRAELI SITES RATTLES TEL AVIV REGIME

While the Israeli regime threatens Lebanon with a full-scale invasion,
Hezbollah puts words into action and rattles the Israeli military apparatus
with a drone footage.

Presstv

Musa Iqbal

While the Israeli regime threatens Lebanon with a full-scale invasion, the
Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah puts words into action and rattles the
Israeli military apparatus Earlier this week, Hezbollah’s media division
released nine minutes of drone footage from within occupied Palestinian
territories. Using a “Hoopoe” drone, the Lebanese resistance group monitored
Israeli military installations, strategic structures like power stations, and a
swath of Israeli commercial centers - all while evading detection.

The drone was able to go over Israeli-occupied settlements of Afula, Nahariya,
Kiryat Shmona, Safad, Karmiel, and most importantly Haifa - a key port that if
successfully shut down would ravage the crumbling Zionist economy. Hezbollah
demonstrated it has visuals of key Israeli military installations such as Iron
Dome batteries, David’s Sling defenses, radars, and more. Much of these were
found in a facility owned and operated by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an
Israeli military technology company focused on research and development.

With the surveillance of Haifa, the drone was able to capture footage of not
only commercial ships (information it can pass onto Yemen who are attacking
ships that deal with Israel) but also Zionist naval vessels. Or Heller, an
Israeli analyst whose media work is widely read, stated that Hezbollah “wants
to show Israel that it has the ability to fly over its airspace as Israel flies
over Lebanon."

Hezbollah Brigadier General Mohammad Abbass said the drone is named “Hoopoe” as
it is able to go long distances. However, it may also be a sly psychological
attack on the Israeli regime, as the Hoopoe is the national bird of the Israeli
regime. Naming something “Hoopoe” could imply that the drone was launched from
within occupied territory. According to the Guardian, the Israeli regime has
spent millions of shekels to deter the drone threat from Hezbollah alone (one
million shekels is roughly $268k).

However, they are unable to completely stop the threat due to numerous tactics
utilized by the Lebanese resistance group, including low-altitude flyovers that
Israeli radars cannot pick up. The Jerusalem Post admitted that it was a
challenge for the Israeli regime because “it is used to being the hi-tech
superpower in the region, and prides itself on being able to use drones and
other means of surveillance against enemies near and far.” “What Hezbollah is
saying is that it can accomplish this as well,” the Zionist newspaper wrote.
The timing of the footage, as with any move Hezbollah makes, is calculated to
the most optimal degree. Keep in mind, that Hezbollah has had multiple
successful drone infiltration for months - likely going back even before the
start of Palestinian Operation Al Aqsa Flood on October 7. The release of the
latest footage likely has three intended audiences: Israeli regime top brass
and officials, Israeli settlers, and the international community.

Let us start by dissecting the most obvious: Zionist officials. Since October
7, Hezbollah has put the Israeli military into a choke-hold, depleting military
resources away from the Israeli invasion of Gaza and into the north.
Hezbollah’s cross-border bombings have not only destroyed swaths of Israeli
troops and vehicles, it has driven out a projection of over 100,000 Zionist
settlers.

With this comes deep financial cuts to the Zionist economy. The regime can no
longer rely on the northern settlements to generate agricultural resources,
forcing it to import resources from abroad. Of course, by displaying the key
port of Haifa in its surveillance video, Hezbollah is showing that even the
highly guarded port is at risk of destruction if the Zionist entity escalates
aggression against Lebanon. The destruction within the northern economy paired
with the port of Eilat being shut down by Yemen is already making economic
analysts within the entity nervous. A devastating blow to Haifa’s ports would
force a new grim reality on the Israeli regime.

Furthermore, Hezbollah displaying that it has the ability to circumvent Zionist
aerial power - dubbed the best in the region and often the world - tells
Israeli top brass that their best assets are not safe. Israel understands
Hezbollah’s calculus - that they would never flex their best intelligence in a
video release. Hezbollah likely has access and intelligence on even more
sensitive sites than the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems depot within the
video. Whatever calculation the Zionist entity was bragging about before the
release of the drone footage is likely irrelevant now. Military sites have been
identified, labeled, and displayed for the world to see. And that is just a
taste of what Hezbollah wants the enemy to know.

Next are the Israeli settlers. The drone footage spans across several cities
totaling hundreds of thousands of settlers. Hezbollah is putting everyone in
check: if the Israeli regime invades and strikes Lebanese citizens, then they
can be reached too. Striking critical infrastructure such as substations and
hydro plants can paralyze entire cities and neighborhoods.The Israeli military
has evacuated thousands of settlers while Zionist media keeps a lid on just how
dire the situation is. Thousands of settlers remain uncertain when they will be
allowed to return, others wonder if they will return at all - while more flee
every day.

Even Zionist military officials are conceding they have lost northern towns
like Galilee to Hezbollah. A former Israeli commander was quoted as saying: "I
was in Kiryat Shmona yesterday. It is a ghost town. It is an abandoned war
zone; the only thing you can see there are animals, you just want to cry." This
creates a unique pressure cooker on the Israeli regime. Israeli settlers have
been protesting the Netanyahu regime for months now. Hundreds of thousands have
demonstrated in Tel Aviv - adding thousands of more frustrated fleeing settlers
from the north is adding additional pressure to a deteriorating political
situation.

Over the months, not only has Israel’s Iron Dome system failed at preventing
Hezbollah’s rockets from hitting targets across the northern border, but the
Iron Dome itself has been disabled several times. US officials have poured
billions of dollars into the Iron Dome, but are now worried that it will not be
enough to deter Hezbollah.And lastly, the international community. Hezbollah’s
stealthy reconnaissance video puts anyone wanting to do business in these
territories in check: If the Zionist entity strikes Lebanon and you are
assisting them, then your assets can be hit too. This is also a precedent set
by Yemen as they continue their Red Sea blockade.

The recon video makes investing in these areas unattractive. Corporations that
seek new business opportunities would be deterred by sirens that can go off at
any moment and that their structures can be possibly damaged. The Bank of
Israel would likely have to subsidize businesses for operating in targeted
areas, burning more money to hold the occupation together.  Israeli settlers
looking for work would likely be offered high-paying jobs to maintain critical
structures within the targeted areas, but many would find the cost of potential
death and injury outweigh the benefits of a few extra shekels. As far as
governments go, those aligned with Washington are being shown that their
billions of dollars of investments in Israeli weaponry are all for nothing.

Serious concerns will be raised next time budgeting is in question for
Zionists, as billion-dollar weaponry is being subverted by thousand-dollar
rockets. Wouldn't this money be better off spent at home? Paired with the
laundry list of war crimes and the threat of arrest warrants from the
International Criminal Court for top Israeli regime officials, there is simply
no guarantee that the stream of revenue the Israeli regime once enjoyed will
continue forward. With a single nine-minute video, Hezbollah has forced the
Israeli regime to re-do its battle calculations. Is war against Lebanon really
something the Israeli regime can afford as it is defeated in Gaza, failing to
meet any of its objectives?

General Secretary of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has promised time and
time again that there are weapons and intelligence that Hezbollah has that
Israel cannot even imagine. Is the settler-colonial entity willing to take the
risk and find out after it has been rattled by mere surveillance footage?

Israel has once again found itself in a political and strategic choke-hold by
the resistance. The permanent damage the Zionist entity has suffered will leave
it scarred for the rest of its likely short existence. Musa Iqbal is a
Boston-based researcher and writer with a focus on US domestic and foreign
policy.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press
TV.)