On January 6, several images were published from a site that had been used by Hezbollah to store weapons, south of the Litani River, in the area between the villages of Kafra and Seddiqin. The images were leaked by the Lebanese Armed Forces as part of a campaign conducted ahead of the announcement of the completion of the first phase of Hezbollah’s disarmament south of the Litani. The images show dozens of crates of small-arms ammunition, as well as several disassembled Russian-made DR-3 cruise missiles. This is a cruise missile that was originally converted by Russia from a reconnaissance UAV into a weaponized platform. It has a range of 200 km, a wingspan of two meters, and a 300 kg warhead.
This is a significant strike asset that does not require a runway or complex infrastructure for operation and launch, making it an attractive weapon for Hezbollah. Its main advantage lies in its relative simplicity combined with its high potential for damage. Its rocket engine enables rapid ascent to altitude and long range. Although it is an unsophisticated system incorporating an analog computer, modern digital systems that can be added to it make it more effective.
Hezbollah’s arsenal of missiles of this type is not small. As early as September 2024, the IDF exposed one of these missiles that had been concealed inside a building in southern Lebanon, specifically adapted for its storage and launch. This is not the first time the Lebanese Army has encountered missiles of this type. In June 2025, a video was published showing Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers attempting to recover, from the rubble of a civilian structure, the remains of such a missile that had been targeted by the IDF.
It is clear that the Lebanese Armed Forces possess additional documentation of the disarmament process south of the Litani that has not been made public, in order to avoid friction with Hezbollah and to make it difficult to retrospectively track the coordination taking place between them and the weapons being returned to Hezbollah’s control. The Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces are expected to announce in the coming days the completion of disarmament south of the Litani. The reality, however, is far from this. Such an announcement is likely to reduce attention to the issue in this area, serve Hezbollah’s interests on the one hand, and provide the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces with greater room for plausible deniability on the other.
