New ships to protect Israel’s gas

ABOARD THE INS LAHAV — After a coronavirus-related delay, Israel's navy is preparing for the long-awaited arrival of its next generation of missile boats — giving it a powerful new tool to defend its strategic natural gas industry from the threat of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The first missile boat of “Project Magen” is scheduled to arrive by early December, with three more of the German-made corvettes scheduled to arrive over the next two years.

“It's bigger. It's newer. It's faster. It's better,” said Rear Adm. Eyal Harel, head of Israeli naval operations, during a rare tour of Israel's offshore Leviathan gas field. A massive gas platform stood just a few hundred yards away.

The vessels, commonly known as the “Saar 6,” will be at the forefront of Israeli efforts to protect its 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The natural gas industry, seen as a tnational asset, is at the heart of those efforts.

Over a decade after finding sizeable reserves off its Mediterranean coast, Israel now generates some 60% of its electricity from natural gas, according to the national electric company, and has begun to export gas to its Arab neighbors Jordan and Egypt. Israel is also pursuing a project with Greece and Cyprus in hopes of creating an Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline to Europe.

With so much at stake, Hezbollah has identified Israeli gas installations as highpriority targets. In a 2018 speech, the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said he could destroy Israeli gas assets “within a few hours” if there was a government order to do so. Hezbollah is part of an alliance that dominates Lebanese politics and government.

Israel takes such threats seriously. During a monthlong war in 2006, a Hezbollah cruise-missile strike on an Israeli “Saar 5” warship killed four soldiers.

Lt. Col. Eitan Paz, a flotilla commander, said the new vessels would bring a welcome upgrade to the aging Saar 5's, which are nearly 30 years old.