Four months after the Israeli Navy downed three Hezbollah drones heading to the Karish gas rig, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi has awarded them a citation for their successful operation.
The award was handed out by Kohavi for “ground-breaking cooperation in operational events that contributed to the security of the state and that reflect the concept of operating for victory and the values of sticking to the mission, initiative and courage,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.
While the interception happened in northern Israel, the ceremony took place at the Reim military base in the South.
“It’s an exciting day for us in Flotilla 3,” said missile boat commander Col. Erez Ben Zion. “The actions of my troops and officers fill me with pride.”
In July, the IDF shot down three Iranian-made UAVs launched by Hezbollah toward the Karish gas rig situated within Israel’s economic waters.
One of the three UAVs was shot down by an F-16 and the two others were downed by the naval Barak 1 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile system on the INS Eilat, marking the first time the system was used against aerial threats.
While the threats by the Lebanese terror group are not new, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened to use force to prevent the Karish gas rig from producing natural gas. Israel sees the rig as a strategic asset and has warned that it will defend it.
“Our mission didn’t start yesterday. It started from the moment we discovered gas in our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and gas platforms started being built in the South and then along our coastline to give us energy,” Ben Zion said. “As part of our duties, Flotilla 3 was given the responsibility of protecting our strategic interests and we have been there patrolling for years; it intensified with the Karish rig.”
Israel-Lebanon maritime deal
The launching of the drones came as Israel and Lebanon were at the height of negotiations to sign a maritime deal between the two enemy countries.
The deal was later signed in October and saw Israel concede the entire triangle of economic waters that had been in dispute with Lebanon in 2012-2021, but not the extended triangle that Lebanon demanded in early 2021.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid said at the time that the deal “will weaken Lebanon’s reliance on Iran, will restrain Hezbollah and will bring regional stability.”
According to Ben Zion, while the Navy had been well aware of the threats by Hezbollah and had been on a regular level of alertness, the day of the event was like any other.
“I believe that every commander along the borders is always on constant alert to defend the country. That day we were on a usual defensive operational mission, there was no specific warning but we were ready as part of our everyday routine,” Ben Zion said. “And then we identified three drones in the skies.”
“I believe that every commander along the borders is always on constant alert to defend the country. That day we were on a usual defensive operational mission, there was no specific warning but we were ready as part of our everyday routine.”
Col. Erez Ben Zion
“Every time you go to sea, you tell yourself that tonight something will happen, and it is the commander’s responsibility to make it clear to troops that it could be tonight.”
In addition to their ship-borne aerial radars identifying the drones, they also received a call from the Israel Air Force headquarters that they had been identified, he said.
“Together, with the INS Eilat, we intercepted them. It was the first successful interception by the Barak 1, which has been around since the 1990s. This event gave us a lot of confidence that our systems, including our detection systems, are able to locate and intercept enemy aircraft.”
While the IDF did not know whether or not the drones were armed at the time, there was no hesitation in taking them down.
“When you see a person armed with a gun coming in your direction, you don’t know if they will shoot you or not. We saw them heading in our direction and we intercepted them,” Ben Zion said.
The Head of the Navy’s Operations Planning Department Col. G was in the Navy’s Bor (Pit) in the Kirya Military Headquarters in Tel Aviv when the drones were identified.
“I saw the whole event and all the dilemmas in real-time,” he said. “We had a direct and open line with the Air Force.”
G. explained that the long process of planning and joint drills allowed for such a concrete defense.
“When we take officers with expert knowledge of the Navy’s systems and we have them sit together with officers from the air defense array, and together they write procedures on how to produce optimal defense during an emergency, – and when we have a dialogue and everyone talks to everyone, – this is what leads to success,” G. said.
“The Air Force knew what its role was, and everyone knew exactly what to do. That’s how we created optimal success in detection and interception. If there was no cooperation, we would not have been able to do this. The partnership is significant and more than just a force multiplier.: It creates synergy.”
Ben Zion said that while the Navy’s ships have sufficient capabilities to withstand the threat that had been posed by the drones, the cooperation between corps has allowed the military to carry out the mission in a much better way.
“Today we are in a place of change,” he said. “The cooperation that happens in routine and in times of emergency, with the multi-dimensionality and joint dialogue, allows the commanders to make decisions in a much better way. The army is in a place of much better preparedness. The fact that this event took place during routine times only shows our readiness for an emergency.”
For both officers, the interception, by the Navy and the IAF, was a clear accomplishment of Kohavi’s multi-dimensional concept.
“The chief of staff’s Victory concept speaks of sharing all dimensions and taking all the different parts and putting them together into one shared picture. The task of protecting the skies inis done in cooperation with the operational headquarters, the IDF, the Air Force and our detection systems,” Ben Zion said.
“That’s the only way we can succeed.”
The badge is awarded on a yearly basis to various IDF units. Many of those awarded on Monday were given for operational activity during Operation Breaking Dawn against Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Gaza Strip and in Operation Break the Waves against Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank, as well as for covert activity in the IDF’s war-between-wars campaign against Iranian entrenchment in Syria and Hezbollah.
The military said that awards were also given to troops who carried out covert operations far from Israel’s borders and classified units whose activity remains classified.