Roughly 90% of Hezbollah’s rocket launches originate from the heart of residential areas.
By Hezy Laing
The military strategy of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon has transformed approximately 200 Shiite towns and villages into sophisticated, de facto military bases.
This integration of high-density weaponry and infrastructure within civilian centers serves to deter strikes and complicate military maneuvers.
According to the IDF, roughly 90% of Hezbollah’s rocket launches originate from the heart of residential areas, often positioned within 100 meters of schools, mosques, and hospitals.
Reports from the Alma Research and Education Center and military intelligence have exposed several key sites.
In the village of Humin Alta, long-range rockets were found stored in attic spaces on hydraulic launch systems.
Similarly, in Al-Khiyam, an extensive underground tunnel system—part of a network that may stretch hundreds of kilometers—was discovered directly beneath a church.
Further military facilities have been identified in towns like Jarja’a, Sujud, and Al-Rihan, which house the group’s “Al-Muraj” training camp and various missile launching arrays.
The scale of this infrastructure is significant. The IDF estimates Hezbollah now possesses an arsenal of some 20,000 rockets.
In recent operations, including “Operation Northern Shield” and follow-up strikes, the IDF has targeted over 1,600 locations to neutralize these embedded assets.
Commanders like Fuad Shukr and Ibrahim Aqil, who oversaw these southern operations, were neutralized in strikes on command centers located in the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut.
Beyond hardware, Hezbollah uses front organizations like “Green Without Borders” to maintain observation posts under the guise of environmental activism.
This “civilian mask” is supported by social institutions such as the Jihad Construction Foundation, which builds the very tunnels used for smuggling and combat.
Despite the 2024 ceasefire agreement, discoveries in villages like Naqoura—where a truck with 40 rocket launchers was found—demonstrate a persistent pattern of utilizing civilian pharmacy basements and residential homes to hide Burkan missiles and explosive caches.
