Lebanon – Agence France-Presse reported that Lebanon is witnessing confusion in ground and air traffic resulting from Israeli interference with the Global Positioning System (GPS) as part of the war that has been ongoing since October 7.
For several months, the strange location data has caused confusion in Lebanon, the agency said.
Several residents reported that their location on an online map was shown as Beirut airport when they were actually elsewhere in the capital.
The agency quoted a taxi driver in Lebanon complaining that location applications showed his location in the Gaza city of Rafah, regarding 300 kilometers (185 miles) away, or in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian border, when he was actually in Beirut.
Since October 7, Israel has taken steps to disrupt GPS functions, and the Israeli military said in October that it disabled GPS “in a proactive manner to meet various operational needs.”
In March, Beirut filed a complaint with the United Nations regarding “Israeli attacks on Lebanese sovereignty in the form of interference with the airspace around” Beirut airport.
On the other hand, the specialized website gpsjam.org, which collects data on GPS signal disruptions, reported a high level of disruption on June 28, over Lebanon and parts of Syria, Jordan and Israel.
An AFP journalist in Jerusalem said her location appeared to be in Cairo, and the interference sometimes extended to Cyprus, some 200 kilometres from Lebanon, where AFP journalists reported that their GPS location appeared to be Beirut airport instead of the island.
“Israel is using GPS jamming to disrupt or interfere with the movement of Lebanese factions,” said Freddy Khoueiri, a global security analyst for the Middle East and North Africa at RANE, a risk intelligence firm.
He added that it “also uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to send false signals with the aim of disrupting and hindering the ability of drones and precision-guided missiles to operate or hit their targets.”
In turn, the head of Lebanese Civil Aviation, Fadi al-Hassan, said that since March, the authority has asked pilots flying to or from Beirut “to rely on ground navigation equipment, which is usually used as a backup system, and not on GPS signals due to the ongoing interference in the area.”
Avedis Seropian, a licensed pilot, said he had stopped using GPS in recent months. “I don’t rely on GPS at all,” he told AFP. “I fly with a compass and a paper map.”
He added that when the geolocation data is wrong and visibility is poor, “you can suddenly find yourself in a state of panic… and that might lead to an accident or a disaster.”
Source: AFP
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2024-07-03 20:18:12
