In the icy wind that rushes between the peaks, downpours compete for the sky with grandiose floods of light. No one is in the mood for rainbows in Hanita, a desert kibbutz in Israel’s mountainous north. Under the arbor of a house with a roof punctured by a Hezbollah rocket, fired from neighboring Lebanese territory, Lieutenant-Colonel Dotan tries to discern the origin of the shots which ring out in the mountain range. Lebanon is a few hundred meters away. The kibbutz adjoins the “blue line”, the border drawn by the UN.
In mid-January, a small group of journalists was invited here, to the “northern front”, for a tour of the site, even if there is not much or many people to see. The vision lens factory, below, has been moved. Residents were evacuated three months ago, following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, for fear of an infiltration by Hezbollah fighters – notably the elite Radwan unit. The attempt did not take place, but tension remains, fueled by regular firing of rockets, 120 mm mortar shells and especially anti-tank weapons, in various places on the border.
In Hanita, there remain bicycles, abandoned gardening tools and big-bellied cats, overfed by the soldiers, the overwhelming majority of whom are reservists. Several tens of thousands of them are deployed in this strange war, made up of waiting and localized threats. “They have fired 800 rockets at Israel since October”, says the colonel, while a new detonation rings out. An arrival of an anti-tank missile this time. Soldiers respond with their automatic weapons from the kibbutz.
In peacetime, the lieutenant colonel is a professor in a military college. In his hand he holds an old military manual which lists basic tactical elements. “With all our reservists coming from the world of start-ups and universities, it must seem strange, but I had to pass on this basic knowledge to them, given our situation: how to dig a fox hole [trou individuel pour un fantassin] and protect yourself there, for example. » After decades of high-tech warfare that led, in part, to the Gaza disaster, it is as if the Israeli army in the North is going back to basics.
Active preparation
The officer was born on this kibbutz. He knows every corner, which is not that complicated, but also the terrain of the surrounding area, the axes open to anti-tank missile fire – Russian Kornet – from Hezbollah. It is the perfect weapon for this situation: its range is limited, around ten kilometers, its fire is precise, and Israeli interception devices can do nothing against it. Hezbollah can thus harass the Israeli army, while avoiding an escalation that neither side wants, until further notice.
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