The IDF announced on Thursday that it held a multi-day drill to defend from a potential sea invasion into Eilat.
Three major portions of the Israel Navy – the elite Shayetet 13 naval commandos, submarines, and missile boats – were all involved in the drill along with the Israel Air Force, the Operations Directorate command, and the Logistics Directorate.
Many of the scenarios that the IDF trained to defend against were prepared based on special intelligence that the IDF gained from a high-ranking Hezbollah secret naval commander it captured around 16 months ago.
At the time, Shayetet 13 raided a coastal area in Batroun, south of Tripoli, around 140 km. north of Israel’s maritime border with Lebanon, and captured Imad Amhaz.
The military stated that Amhaz was a central operative in Hezbollah’s highly classified maritime program and more specifically in Unit 7900, its land-to-sea missile unit.
During interrogation, Amhaz confirmed his senior role in the clandestine Hezbollah naval activities and provided intelligence on the unit’s structure and objectives, such as building covert operations under the guise of civilian cover to target Israeli and international interests.
To defend against invasion scenarios, the navy cooperates with other arms of the IDF to throw a massive intelligence collection envelope over all nearby maritime areas, using intelligence elements from above, from sea level, and underground.
There have been concerns throughout 2023 to 2026 that Israel has been spread thin in terms of collecting intelligence on certain less-prominent threat fronts.
The Shayetet 13 commandos also practiced a variety of drills, such as boarding and challenging hostile attackers’ modes of transportation in complex circumstances.