TEL AVIV — The Israel Air Force has been significantly hampered by
Hizbullah rocket strikes on northern Israel.
Military sources said Hizbullah rockets have caused heavy damage to a
major air force base at Meron, about 20 kilometers south of Lebanon. The
base contains a regional air operations center that has directed the war in
Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported.
The Hizbullah attacks have also forced the air force to relocate Israeli
attack helicopters, comprising the AH-64 Apache and the AH-1S Cobra. The
helicopters have played a major role in the air war in southern Lebanon and
the Beirut area.
"The main factor has been the helicopters," a source said. "They have
nowhere to land in northern Israel that's safe from Hizbullah rockets."
As a result, the air force has also transferred its helicopter
maintenance and logistics center from northern Israel. Over the last few
days, the sources said, attack and utility helicopters were ordered to fly
to a base in the Negev for service.
"We don't know how many [Hizbullah] missiles are left," Brig. Gen. Omri
Tamir, head of the air force's helicopter directorate, said. "They are
concealed in basements and underneath homes. Over the last few days, the
weather in Lebanon has also made things difficult for us [to strike
targets]."
The air force has sought to compensate for its helicopter difficulties
by expanding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance in
southern Lebanon, the sources said. They said UAVs have flown more 250 hours
in missions in Lebanon, or 24-hour coverage by at least two platforms.
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz said the air force has employed 100
F-15s and F-16s in the war against Hizbullah. He said more than 1,400
sorties were conducted, most of them bombing missions.
"It will take time to determine the effectiveness of the IDF [Israel
Defense Forces] operation in Lebanon," Halutz told the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday. "We do know, however, that we
crippled Hizbullah's major transportation points and prevented them from
transferring more weapons to their artillery units. We also know that we
cleared out Hizbullah's major support networks."
