The Symbolism of Hezbollah’s Hoopoe and ’The Great News’

The timing is important. The video was released shortly after a visit to Lebanon by US envoy, Amos Hochstein, and his meetings with senior Lebanese officials during which he continued his pressure campaign in the hope of achieving calm on “Israel’s” northern front.

When it comes to substance there are a number of observations concerning: the duration of the video, the variety of precise targets that were recorded, and the hidden and obvious messages it intended to send to the “Israeli” leadership.

1 – The name: The title of the video is “Al-Hodhod” [Arabic for the hoopoe]. It is the name of the Hezbollah drone that flew over occupied Palestine at varying depths and was able to bypass “Israel’s” air defenses. It returned with the necessary information without “Israeli” defenses detecting it. In the Quran, the hoopoe also symbolizes a skilled and quick message bearer. The story of this bird with Prophet Solomon is usually used as an example of the art of psychological warfare by the media: {“I have found out something you do not know. I have just come to you from Sheba with sure news.”} [Surah An-Naml]

The hoopoe is very fast in flight and can withstand difficult conditions. It is intelligent and elusive and has the ability to hide and defend itself.

2 - The duration: The video clip published by Hezbollah’s military media of the targets in occupied Palestine is 9 minutes and 32 seconds long, distributed unevenly over the three targets. Perhaps deliberately, much of the focus is on the Haifa port, with approximately 4 minutes and 50 seconds of the video dedicated to the site. Two minutes of the video cover 'Krayot' and another 2 minutes and 10 seconds cover 'Rafael’s' military industrial complex.

3 - Details about the targets: Video presentation of three types of targets:

 - Rafael’s military industrial complex is a purely military target. There is a military industrial zone affiliated with the company, which includes a large number of factories [control and guidance systems factories], warehouses, and testing fields [rocket engine stores, air defense missile stores], in which components of air defense systems, especially the Iron Dome and David's Sling, are manufactured and assembled. The video shows that the area is both vital and highly sensitive. The facility occupies an area of 6.5 km2 and is 24 km away from the Lebanese border.

- The Haifa Port is a strategic area because it contains sensitive strategic sites, military installations, and huge industrial and commercial facilities, the most important and dangerous of which are: chemical tanks, oil tanks, and the Haifa military base responsible for the northern naval arena [which is the “Israeli” army’s main naval base]. Haifa’s non-military port is the largest in occupied Palestine. It houses buildings belonging to the submarine unit command, the 'Shayetet 7' submarine unit command building, the 'Sa’ar' 4.5 boat designated for confronting submarines, the 'Sa’ar' 5 and 'Sa’ar' 6 boats, the Devora boats, and the Mizrahi pier, in addition to Haifa’s power station and Haifa Airport.

- Krayot is a high-density urban bloc bordering Haifa Bay and located north of the city. It has a population of 260,000 “Israeli” settlers and includes four small cities and two neighborhoods. It has an area of 20 km2 and is 28 km away from the Lebanese border. The hoopoe video returned with detailed and an accurate overview of the streets, buildings, and traffic in 'Krayo', such as the residences of regular corps, 'Karti Square', the 'Osher Ad' commercial complex, the 'Savionai Yam' complex, the 'Abraham Gardens' Towers, and the 'BIG 'Krayo't' shopping center.

4 - Episodes: This is perhaps one of the first times that the military media of the Islamic Resistance has shown a video that includes episodes. The Hoopoe video revealed in the first seconds the existence of a second episode. The video also included the words: "To be continued."

The video opened with scenes of the “Israeli” settlements of "Kiryat Shmona", "Nahariya", "Safed" [Safad], "Karmiel" and Haifa, all the way to Afula. It concluded with the phrase “Even the birds as they soar” – a quote from the noble verse {Do you not see that Allah is glorified by all those in the heavens and the earth, even the birds as they soar? Each ˹instinctively˺ knows their manner of prayer and glorification. And Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all they do.}. [Surah An-Nur 41]

The footage showes high accuracy in the coordinates, specifying distances and the geographical distance of areas from the Lebanese border. It also highlights the venerability and multiplicity of some military and strategic targets, the targeting of which could represent a painful blow to “Israel” and cause heavy losses, including oil storage and chemical tanks.

The greatest harm was caused to the “Israeli” public, who realize that there is no security for them in this land. Hezbollah neighbors them with superior intelligence capabilities. It has eyes on the residential buildings. It hovers over their commercial complexes, markets, and streets and monitors the movements of their cars, the port, their ships, their military factories, and their oil storage facilities. Its drones return with information and coordinates without a scratch, and if the resistance leadership could have made all the targets that the Hoopoe returned with a thing of the past.