The Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah has published footage from a drone overflight using the Hudhud surveillance platform, which was able to operate freely over northern Israel to capture high resolution videos of Ramat David Airbase. The footage identified hardened hanger for the base’s aircraft, as well as support facilities, barracks, command facilities, radar, Iron Dome air defence systems, aircraft, vehicles and a range of other assets. A Hezbollah source claimed that the footage was shot on July 23, and that it publication was “linked” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, sending a “message with clear implications.” The prime minister has been widely speculated to be seeking to rally American and broader Western support for a possible escalation of hostiles with Hezbollah, which Israeli forces alone are considered incapable of managing. Hezbollah has previously frequently published footage demonstrating its free drone surveillance operations inside Israel.
Ramat David Airbase hosts Israel’s three frontline squadrons of F-16C/D fourth generation fighters, namely Squadron 101 “First Fighter,” Squadron 105 “Scorpion,” and Squadron 109 “The Valley.” These represent over one third of Israel’s active F-16s outside specialised training units, with four additional squadrons based elsewhere in the country deploying the newer F-16I variant that is more specialised in air to surface missions. The facility also hosts the 193 Squadron “Defenders Of The West” which operates Eurocopter AS565s for reconnaissance and surveillance. Drone squadrons 157 and 160 have also operated at the facility from 2006 and 2020 respectively. The facility is one of the oldest in history, having opened upon Israel’s founding in 1948, and was previously a British Royal Air Force base opened in 1942.
Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in a near continuous series of skirmishes since October 2023, with the militia having initiated hostilities to stretch Israeli forces during their operations against Palestinian paramilitaries across the country’s southern border in the Gaza Strip. The Lebanese paramilitary has demonstrated sophisticated military capabilities on multiple occasions, including the ability to use a range of drone and artillery assets for complex air defence suppression operations, including neutralising Israel’s Iron Dome air defence systems. Israeli experts have described Hezbollah as “a defensive guerrilla force organised along North Korean lines,” with its forces having received significant support from Pyongyang as well as Tehran since the 1980s. Hezbollah’s forces gained extensive experience in the 2010s fighting alongside Russian and Syrian forces against Israeli, Western and Turkish backed jihadist groups in Syria to support Damascus’ counterinsurgency efforts.