Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on June 21 that it has captured a large underground drone “air base” of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Israeli military officers told The Times of Israel during an organized media tour of the air base last week that the subterranean facility, guarded by massive steel blast doors, was built under the town of Majdal Zoun in the past decade with direct Iranian assistance, including planning and funding,
The base, located just six kilometers away from Israel’s border, was captured by a reservist commando and paratroopers formation of the IDF earlier in the month.
It runs several hundred meters into the mountain, reaching depths of 29 meters under Majdal Zoun, according to the IDF, which said that Hezbollah had assembled Iranian-made drones using parts smuggled into Lebanon there.
Around 50 fixed-wing one-way attack drones with warheads of around 30 kilograms of explosives were found apiece inside the base.
The drones appeared to be a copy of Iran’s Ababil-2, which typically has a range of 200 to 300 kilometers. This is more than enough to cover most of the territories of Israel.
“These are drones that threatened the State of Israel throughout its length and breadth. We came here to deprive Hezbollah of these capabilities,” a squadron commander in the elite Yahalom combat engineering was quoted by The Times of Israel as telling reporters,
“At the end of the tunnel, there are exits, four exits protected by blast doors on rails. They can be opened and allow launching of UAVs at Israel,” the officer added.
Israeli military officers described the facility as both an air base and factory, saying it was built strategically in Majdal Zoun because of its relative proximity to Israel.
“Six kilometers from our territory, and it is also close to the coastline. It also enables launches [of drones] in those directions,” the Yahalom officer said.
According to the IDF, during the war with Hezbollah in 2024, the Israeli Air Force bombed the site to seal it off and put it out of use. Hezbollah attempted to restore it later, however.
The capture of the facility was an achievement for the IDF, which likely decided to unveil it to the public to make up for its failure to reach the strategic Ali Taher height to the north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon. A much larger underground base with a complex network of tunnels is reported to be located there. The IDF lost at least five soldiers in failed attempts to reach it in recent weeks.
Most of Hezbollah’s infrastructure to the south of the Litani were hit during the previous round of fighting, or disarmed by the Lebanese military in the ceasefire that followed. However, the group adapted and rebuilt its capabilities, as evident by the fierce resistance it is showing currently in all of south Lebanon.
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