Targeted by Hezbollah: What Do We Know About the Israeli Galilout Base?

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The Galilout base hosts a unit that serves as the long arm of Israeli intelligence, responsible for the “penetrations” achieved by the Hebrew state within Hezbollah.

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This base, considered one of Israel’s most important intelligence centers, has been declared by Hezbollah on multiple occasions as part of its target bank. In a statement released on Monday evening, Hezbollah confirmed that it targeted the base with a missile barrage, “in response to the targeting of civilians and in response to the call of ‘Labbayk Ya Nasrallah.’”

Hezbollah has repeatedly announced over the past few months its desire to target this base, which appeared in a video filmed by a drone and published several months ago.

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What Do We Know About the Israeli Galilout Base?

• It is located near Tel Aviv, in central Israel.
• It is 110 kilometers from the Lebanese border, putting it within range of Lebanese missiles.
• Its area is 1,870 dunams.
• It includes the headquarters of Unit 8200 and several military schools and colleges.
• One of the “Mossad” offices is located nearby.
• Adjacent to it is also the Intelligence Heritage Center and the memorial site for intelligence community members who were killed in operations.

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Key Milestones:

• 1952: Unit 8200 was transferred there.
• 2008: It was decided to evacuate it according to a pre-prepared plan, involving its transfer as part of an operation to relocate Israeli military bases to the Negev, at an estimated cost of 25 billion shekels.
• However, after several delays, the evacuation is planned to take place between 2026 and 2028 in three phases.
• Despite the army’s efforts to convince intelligence personnel to relocate south, 97% of permanent personnel in 8200 are unwilling to move.

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Does the Galilout Base Contain Weapons? The video released by Hezbollah indicated that the base includes:

• A maintenance area
• A signal reception area
• The headquarters of the military intelligence division
• A communications battalion area
• A kitchen and dining hall
• The buildings of Unit 9900 and the headquarters of Unit 8200

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The Role of the Galilout Base in Targeting Hezbollah: It is an intelligence base focused on gathering information and analyzing data, with a large center for cyber operations.

It includes Unit 8200, which is responsible for electronic espionage through signal collection and decryption, as well as leading electronic warfare in the Israeli army.

The objectives of Unit 8200 include contributing to a comprehensive intelligence vision based on information provided by human sources, namely agents.

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It relies on three methods of operation in the intelligence field: monitoring, eavesdropping, and photography, as well as jamming. It is led by a senior officer with the rank of brigadier general.

The unit played a crucial role in electronic warfare against the Iranian nuclear project.

Israeli reports have stated that it also played an important role in targeting Hezbollah leaders and members by implanting explosives in communication devices such as “pagers” and “walkie-talkie” radios.

It is also believed to have played a significant role in locating Hezbollah leaders by spying on phones, mobile devices, and social media.