Alalam - Israel

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have defended sharing an inaccurate map of Lebanon annotated with Hezbollah military positions and warehouses, saying the map was for “visual illustration” purposes, independent reported.

The official IDF Twitter account posted the map titled “Declassified map of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Lebanon” on Tuesday, highlighting more than 80 towns and villages and thousands of spots it said were home to sites such as rocket launchers and infantry positions.

“This is a war crime,” the tweet’s caption said, alongside the tagline “Hezbollah’s hiding behind Lebanon’s civilians.”

It was shared hundreds of times before one Twitter user pointed out that the picture couldn’t be a declassified military map because the image’s history showed it been created using Google Maps by an IDF spokesperson account, and featured repetitive patterns.

The map which according to the Times of Israel was construed as an IDF attempt to build a case for future military action and demonstrate Israel’s sophisticated intelligence-gathering capabilities was shown to foreign diplomats visiting Israel, local television reported.

When asked for comment, the IDF confirmed that the map is inaccurate, calling it in effect “an illustration of what is going on in Lebanon”.

SA - 12