Israeli Efforts to Interrupt Hezbollah’s Supply Chain From Iran

Hezbollah depends almost entirely for its weapons on those supplied by Iran, that arrive in Lebanon via Syria. They come by air, flown into Damascus and to Beirut, and by sea, from Iranian ships that unload their deadly cargo at the port of Latakia, and those weapons are taken in trucks that transport Iranian weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ever since Hezbollah started its latest war with the Jewish state on October 8, 2023, Israel has been conducting a relentless campaign of bombing all three methods of weapons delivery — by plane and ship and truck. On November 1, Israeli commandos captured a senior figure in Hezbollah’s navy, who no doubt has been supplying the IDF with information that will make its interruption of the weapons shipments extending from Iran to the Syrian port of Latakia still more effective. More on the various routes and methods used to supply weapons along the Iran-Syria-Lebanon supply chain, and the IDF’s relentless campaign to disrupt it, can be found here: “Analysis: Israel’s expanding efforts to disrupt Hezbollah’s supply chain,” by Emanuele Ottolenghi and Joe Truzman, Long War Journal, November 15, 2024:

In recent years, Iran steadily built up Hezbollah’s arsenal in Lebanon and Syria by shipping weapons, flying them in, and transporting them by truck. Weapons consignments arrived at ports and airports and were stored at warehouses in both countries before being distributed to Hezbollah units. Israel has sought to disrupt the flow of weapons, chiefly by bombing raids on targets in Syria (including the port of Latakia and the airport in Damascus). Since Hezbollah joined Hamas and opened a second front against Israel on October 8, 2023, Israel has hit targets in Lebanon as well. But Israel’s efforts to degrade and destroy Hezbollah’s arsenal and disrupt Iran’s efforts to resupply it have dramatically increased in tempo since September 28, the day after Israel eliminated Hezbollah’s late leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

On that day, Israel interdicted an Iranian cargo plane as it made its final descent into Beirut airport, forcing it to return to Tehran. Following the interdiction, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Daniel Hagari warned that the Israeli military would prohibit Iranian weapon transfers to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The IDF put Hagari’s words into action as Israeli interdictions occurred twice more before October 5, when Iranian cargo was permanently diverted to Latakia in Syria.

Supplies are now landing by plane in Latakia and reaching its Syrian port by cargo ship from Iran, with Israel making no attempts so far to disrupt the air traffic. Flight tracking data available from the commercial website FlightRadar24 show that, since September 28, when a cargo aircraft operated by the US-sanctioned, IRGC-controlled Qeshm Fars Air sought to land in Beirut, the same cargo plane flew four times to Latakia. Aircraft operated by Mahan Air and Yazd Airways—both A310 and A342 Airbus passenger planes—have flown to Latakia at least 17 times since September 28. Nevertheless, once an aircraft lands in Syria, the goods it carries have an additional hurdle to overcome—supplies must then safely travel to Lebanon.

Since September, Israel also bombed land border crossings between Lebanon and Syria more than once and targeted multiple warehouses in Syria. However, what remains open for weapons transport is the sea….

It is noteworthy that over the years, Iran has acquired significant expertise in transferring arms to its proxy in Lebanon through land, air, and sea routes. These lessons are now being mirrored with other Iranian proxies in regions such as Iraq and Yemen.

Israel’s supply chain disruption is not going to deprive Hezbollah of access to weapons completely. Hezbollah has also pursued the capabilities to manufacture advanced weapons on a large scale in Lebanon, with some measure of success. Regardless, the group remains heavily dependent on Iranian resupply, and Israel’s interdictions of air and land supply routes to Lebanon confirm this. What intelligence Israel may be able to extract from Mr. Amhaz remains to be seen. But the key to starving Hezbollah’s arsenal must include shutting down its sea lanes, and a pre-dawn raid in Batrun may have given Israel the knowledge it needs to do it.

It’s a constant battle for the IDF to interrupt the weapons supply chain extending from Iran through Syria to Hezbollah, by land, air, and sea. It has repeatedly bombed the airport in Damascus, and interdicted Iranian planes loaded with weapons from landing at the airport in Beirut. It has bombed the port at Latakia, where Iranian weapons arrive both by sea and by air (Latakia has an airport). It has bombed the border crossings from Syria to Lebanon utilized by Hezbollah’s Unit 4400. It has bombed Iranian weapons warehouses in Syria, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, and in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of southern Beirut. It has captured a key member of Hezbollah’s navy, who has now been interrogated by the IDF on how the Iranians deliver their weapons to the port of Latakia. The IDF knows it cannot shut off the spigot of Iranian weapons altogether, but it has had great success in decreasing the weapons that arrive by land and air to Hezbollah. Now, with the capture of the naval officer in Batrun, and the intelligence the IDF has likely been able to extract from him, Israel should be able to do the same with the Iranian shipments of weapons to Syria by sea.