Wednesday, March 30, 2011

'Washington Post' publishes maps showing 1,000 Hizbullah military sites in Lebanon

Israeli intelligence has quietly mapped out what military officials describe as roughly 1,000 underground bunkers and hidden weapons storage facilities and monitoring sites built by Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

Most of the sites marked on the map, which appeared in the American newspaper on Wednesday, are located south of the Litani River.

Ten arms caches are marked on another map featuring an aerial view of the Al Khiyam village in south Lebanon. The weapons storage facilities are located in close proximity to medical centers and schools.


According to the map, one of Hezbollah's bunkers is located in a mosque.

"In releasing the map, the Israeli military appeared to be trying to preempt international criticism of any future offensive against the alleged sites, many of which are located in residential villages alongside hospitals, schools and even civilian homes," the Post reported.

The Washington post quoted a senior Israeli commander as saying, “Our interest is to show the world that the Hezbollah organization has turned these villages into fighting zones.”