Hezbollah spotted building new bases
I’m sure Israel already has these bases on their radar should Hezbollah attack.
BEIRUT : Recently uploaded satellite images to the online Google Earth portal reveal what appears to be a Hezbollah military training ground constructed since 2006 in remote hills in the eastern Bekaa Valley along the border with Syria.
The facility near Janta includes a suspected driver training course, a 100-meter firing range and a possible urban terrain assault course, according to imagery analysts and European intelligence officials who first noticed the unusual hillside markings in 2008.
Google Earth images also reveal considerable – and surprisingly overt – construction activity in sealed-off Hezbollah security pockets in southern Lebanon, particularly in the hills south of Jezzine, which became the group’s main line of defense following the 2006 war with Israel and subsequent redeployment from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon-patrolled border district.
The scale of the activity hints at the enormous efforts Hezbollah has undertaken since the 2006 war to prepare itself for the possibility of another conflict with Israel. But the construction work also raises questions as to the purpose of these facilities, which are easily visible to Israel’s near daily aerial reconnaissance violations as well as to satellite surveillance by Western nations and now to anyone with Google Earth installed on their computer, assuming they know where to look.
The Google Earth image of the Janta area is dated May 21, 2011, and when compared to the previous image dated Nov. 28, 2005, shows substantial activity such as new tracks and buildings alongside the more militaristic facilities.
…It is possible that the construction is genuinely of a civilian nature and is providing the foundation for future agricultural or industrial projects.
But there is another alternative. Hezbollah’s military leaders are masters of deception, which raises the possibility that the construction activity is nothing more than a decoy to keep everyone guessing while the militarily significant work is conducted under camouflage and in secrecy elsewhere.
The truth presumably will remain unknown until the next war with Israel.