In addition to the many weapons that IDF forces located in southern Lebanon, it also found personal documents of the Radwan Force, the elite unit of the Hezbollah terrorist organization that suffered many losses during the war. The documents reveal, among other things, the unit's methods of operation, and some of them contain detailed instructions for operatives regarding camouflage in the field: "It is forbidden to smoke hookahs or light a light," and, due to concerns about Israeli eavesdropping, "one must speak in encrypted form."
The documents are handwritten and, in addition to names, numbers and personal details about elements in the unit, we can learn about the unit's activities, whose goal before the October 7 massacre was to penetrate Israeli territory and take control of areas near the border. For example, one of the documents details the dimensions of six Hezbollah firing positions.
Another page details instructions for the terrorist organization's operatives - "How to avoid detection?" Among other things, it states that camouflage and cleanliness must be maintained during work, that hookahs are prohibited, and that lights must not be turned on while in bed. The operatives are also told that they must keep records at all times, and that they are not allowed to leave their shift before submitting a situation assessment.
One of the documents seized was written in August 2020, and one section states that “the enemy must be made to think that we are on high alert.” The same document also mentions a fear of Israeli eavesdropping: “We must talk in encrypted form about internal affairs, because the Israelis are monitoring everything.” The page also dealt with the outbreak of the coronavirus, which was relevant at that time.
In recent months, the IDF spokesman has revealed the Radwan Force's method of operation. In October, about a month after the start of the ground operation in Lebanon, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari said that "for years Hezbollah has been planning how to invade our territory on command - and now we are revealing the method." He noted that the forces had turned civilian villages in southern Lebanon into fortified combat complexes and fortified staging areas under dense vegetation. "The organization built a system of underground combat complexes under dense vegetation, in which it kept various weapons," he said.
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In fact, Radwan's force used civilian homes as part of preparations for an attack against Israel. The IDF confiscated large quantities of weapons used by the terrorist organization and many documents that belonged to the organization. The documents contain a great deal of tactical information about the organization: tables with operative numbers, battalion numbers, lists, personal reminders, important phone numbers, including those of operations rooms.
They also reveal information about the personal lives of Radwan Force operatives, including requests for leave by operatives for personal needs such as a wedding or a family member's surgery. All of this indicates the organization's very orderly and meticulous conduct, before the major upheaval it has undergone in recent months and the assassination of its leaders.