After a tumultuous week on the northern front, starting Saturday and lasting a full day, the skies from Hadera (A city about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv) northward were declared as restricted airspace. Head of air intelligence at the Civil Aviation Authority announced that "due to security tensions, all infrastructures in the domestic space are closed to all types of aircraft" to facilitate Air Force operations.
Ynet analyst, Ron Ben-Yishai, interprets this airspace closure as yet another signal to Hezbollah: "We are aware of your plans." Facing the drone swarms from the Shiite terrorist organization, Israel's main defense lies in its F-35 jets, equipped with superior radar, and the F-16s for closer encounters. The closure of the airspace from Hadera northward suggests Hezbollah has not yet broken the rules nor decided to aim its launches toward the center of the country. Alternatively, this move might be intended to ensure flight safety due to fears of missiles targeting the northern region up to Hadera.
The last similar announcement was made on June 19, though with more limited restrictions and airspace closure duration. Back then, it followed a day after Hezbollah released extraordinary footage from a drone dubbed "Hudhud"—Hebrew for Hoopoe—that recorded nine and a half minutes of missile ships at Haifa port, surrounding neighborhoods, the "BIG" shopping complex, a Rafael factory, and even tracked a moving vehicle. The organization's secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened post-footage release to expand his organization's attack range within Israeli territory. "We have long hours of footage of Haifa, what comes after Haifa, and after-after Haifa," he declared.
The activities permitted today in the northern airspace include air evacuation, police, and aerial firefighting; Haifa CTR; transport route (CVFR) along the coast to and from Haifa; international flights to and from Haifa. Additionally, the Megiddo airfield remains closed to activity, except for commercial flights that need to take off southward, subject to approval upon coordination.
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Hassan Nasrallah during his speech, a Lebanese family watching
(Photo: Ammar Ammar / AFP)
On Friday, IDF eliminated in Beirut the head of Hezbollah's operations system, Ibrahim Aqil, and along with him, the top of the operations system and the command chain of the Radwan Force, the organization's elite unit, were also neutralized. Less than a day later, newspapers across the Arab world, some serving as the mouthpiece of the Shiite terrorist organization, painted a grim picture with a clear message: Israel has "exceeded the boundaries" previously set, and Hezbollah will respond with "new and unexpected methods." The death toll from the attack has risen to 31.
On Tuesday, thousands of Hezbollah operatives were injured in a beeper explosion, followed by hundreds more the next day in a walkie-talkie explosion. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared that Israel is at the brink of a "new phase in the war," and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi re-approved attack plans—as the north, amid high tension, braces for Hezbollah's retaliation.