Hezbollah is seeking to avoid escalating the war with Israel by concentrating its responses to Israeli airstrikes deep in Lebanese territory, targeting Israeli facilities in the occupied Golan Heights rather than hitting the Israeli coast, which it is cautious not to target. In its responses, Hezbollah benefits from the Baalbek-Golan equation to strike vital intelligence observatories on Mount Hermon.
On Sunday, Hezbollah announced the targeting of a reconnaissance center on Mount Hermon in the occupied Golan Heights with successive waves of kamikaze drones aimed at a long-range technical and electronic surveillance center located in the eastern direction (the Eastern Ski Observatory) on Mount Hermon, noting that this is the largest aerial operation by Hezbollah since October 8. The statement indicated that the drones hit its domes and espionage equipment, leading to the destruction of the targeted devices and igniting fires. It emphasized that this was the highest target subjected to strikes since the onset of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" battle on the Lebanon front (at 2,230 meters), as a response to the aggression and assassination carried out by the Israeli enemy on Saturday in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
The Mount Hermon observatory (known as Mount Sheikh Observatory), which was captured by the Syrian army in the October War of 1973 and later retrieved by Israel, is the highest peak in southern Syria. Reuters reported that Israel possesses major surveillance, reconnaissance, and air defense facilities on Mount Sheikh.
The Baalbek-Golan Equation
Hezbollah has often responded to any Israeli airstrike in the Bekaa by targeting the Golan Heights, while the Israeli army retaliates for Golan strikes with aerial bombardments in the Bekaa region, starting from February of last year. This exchange has become part of the unannounced rules of engagement practiced between the two sides, discussed in Israeli media, and acknowledged by analysts close to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The party claims it targets artillery positions, military bases, and air defense systems in the occupied Golan Heights connected to the Shabaa Farms, also occupied by Israel.
However, the recent strike on the Hermon peak goes beyond this aspect, according to Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He stated in a comment to "Asharq Al-Awsat" that this area had witnessed a significant explosion for the first time of this magnitude, confirming that the bombardment originated from Lebanon, not Syria.
Hezbollah's media asserts that the strikes on Sunday, which targeted the Miron base at the summit of Jabal al-Jamaq (the highest peak in the Galilee) and Mount Hermon base, prove that no point in the north is immune to attack. Observers believe that Hezbollah's strikes on the Golan constitute a circumvention of the Syrian decision aimed at avoiding the use of the Syrian front in the ongoing clashes with Israel. Abdul Rahman confirms that attacking the Golan from Lebanese territory is a compensation for the restrictions imposed by Assad on Hezbollah and the Iraqi militias loyal to Iran, prohibiting them from launching attacks from Syrian territory against Israeli targets in the Golan. He added that Assad has frozen the front at regional and international requests led by Russia, which deploys 14 observation points in Quneitra on the Golan borders, while fighters from the Iraqi militias supporting Iran have largely withdrawn from the region since the war began, alongside the retreat of Hezbollah fighters from the entire Syrian border area adjacent to Lebanon for nearly a month.
Abdul Rahman stated: "Assad's constraints on operations have kept strategic Israeli observatories active, prompting Hezbollah to attack them from Lebanese territory," noting that the latest targeting is strategic given that the observatory at the summit of Hermon, known as Mount Sheikh Observatory, includes reconnaissance points and radars that oversee Lebanon, Syria, and other areas, indicating its ability to gather information and feed the air force.
An Alternative to the Coast
In addition to the strategic dimension, focusing on the Golan carries political implications connected to Hezbollah's commitment to expand its strikes if Israel intensifies its attacks. The party often chooses targets in the Golan as an alternative to those on the Israeli coast. Dr. Hisham Jabir, head of the Middle East Center for Studies and Research, clarifies that the most significant Israeli targets are located in the west between Haifa and Tel Aviv, as well as on Mount Sheikh. In contrast, there are no substantial targets in the Galilee, which has seen towns and settlements devoid of important military bases. Bombing Haifa and its surroundings involves risks of war expansion; thus, targeting it is considered a red line, leading the party to avoid such attacks, while concerns about dragging Israel into a broader conflict impose limitations on Hezbollah regarding its targets, leaving only the Golan to fulfill its commitments.
Jabir, a retired Lebanese army general, indicates that the Syrian Golan Heights contain a rich target bank, from which Hezbollah has only targeted about 20% after striking most of the settlements near Lebanon. The substantial targets in that region have diminished with the evacuation of military bases, and Hezbollah concentrates on hitting soldiers moving within it. He explains that the Golan Heights is rich in information centers due to its overlook on Syria and Lebanon and its inclusion of military bases ranging from the (91st Brigade) to eavesdropping, sensing, and radio interception locations overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, it has become a tourist area that hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, which is now paralyzed.
Since the war began, Hezbollah has targeted Israeli electronic facilities and surveillance observatories along the border with Lebanon, which amounted to more than 420 technical setups last month, along with dozens of border points, sites, barracks, and rear locations, according to a tally published by the party last June. Meanwhile, the Israeli Institute of Influence reported 2,295 attacks against Israel carried out by Hezbollah since the outbreak of the war until early July, with a range extending beyond 30 kilometers. It stated that the military area that had been attacked the most strongly was the Har Dov area (Shabaa Farms) and its sites, where Hezbollah carries out daily attacks – which is the western slope of Mount Sheikh.
Analysts close to Hezbollah note that focusing on technical setups and targeting air defense platforms is intended to obscure Israel's operations, depriving it of monitoring and tracking capabilities. They indicate that attacking those systems has helped in launching drones and reducing the Israeli army's ability to intercept missiles from Lebanon, according to "Asharq Al-Awsat."
