By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

It is estimated that more than 500,000 flights were affected by spoofing attacks in the Middle East this year.

A military airbase in northern Israel has been identified as the key source of numerous GPS interference incidents across the Middle East, according to a New York Times report.

The attacks, known as “spoofing,” the report said, send out “manipulated GPS signals that make airplane instruments misread their location.”

The paper cited researchers at the University of Texas who said they were “highly confident” that the attacks originated from the Ein Shemer Airfield.

Since Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza began on October 7, northern Israel has faced significant GPS jamming, widely attributed to Israeli efforts to disrupt Lebanese Hezbollah’s capacity for precise missile strikes, reported the Middle East Monitor (MEMO).

The NYT report said the researchers “used data that was emitted by the spoofer and picked up by satellites in low-Earth orbit to determine its location.”

The calculations were then confirmed “using data they collected on the ground in Israel.”

Ein Shemer Airfield in Israel 🇮🇱 reportedly key source of GPS spoofing attacks disrupting civilian airline navigation in Middle East region https://t.co/WoXpJ0TCO9 https://t.co/wEuhfg76pu pic.twitter.com/X1ZrSx0vRu

— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) July 3, 2024

Over 500,000 Flights

It was unclear how many spoofing incidents the researchers had linked to the Israeli military, however, “a separate analysis” estimated that “more than 500,000 flights” were affected in the region this year.

Citing researchers at SkAI Data Services and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, the NYT said the attacks have made pilots “think that they were above airports in Beirut or Cairo when they were not.

The report said that according to Swiss International Airlines, their flights were spoofed “almost every day” over the Middle East.

Rising Tensions

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.

According to Hezbollah sources, the movement has carried out 169 military operations in the first 120 days of war, killing over 2,000 Israeli soldiers.

Israeli Soldiers Killed, Wounded – Hezbollah Launches Hundreds of Missiles

Israel has occupied parts of Lebanon for decades and has only left the country in 2000, following stiff Lebanese resistance under Hezbollah’s leadership.

It attempted to re-occupy Lebanon in 2006 but failed in what Lebanon considers a major victory against Israel.

Israel, however, continues to occupy parts of Lebanon, namely the Sheeba Farms region.

Hezbollah has vowed to recover every inch of Lebanon that has been occupied by Israel contrary to international law.

(PC, MEMO)