Cheap, readily available Hezbollah drones have Israeli soldiers diving for protection

On the battlefields of southern Lebanon, the world’s most advanced air defense network is powered by small drones that can be bought online, piped with explosives and flown directly into Israeli military vehicles.

Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia once feared for its powerful arsenal of rockets and missiles, has devoted itself to using drones, out of necessity and tactical adaptability.

Most of its top leaders have been killed and its arsenal of missiles and explosives is believed to have been severely depleted by the Israeli attack.

The change in tactics had consequences for the IDF soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon.

Eleven Israeli soldiers have been killed since a US-sponsored cease-fire was agreed on April 16, and CBC News has identified four deaths as a result of drone strikes.

One of the dead was 19-year-old Sgt. Nehoray Leizer, who was killed on May 24 when the armored vehicle he was driving was hit by a drone. Another soldier was seriously injured.

Last Wednesday, the IDF announced that 10 soldiers were wounded in two airstrikes, one seriously.

“It creates a big problem for Israel,” said Robert Tollast, a military expert with the London-based Royal United Services Institute, a military think tank.

“If they are tall [Hezbollah] can continue this threat, and begin to have strategic implications. As more Israeli soldiers are killed and wounded … the consequences will increase.”

In response to the increase in drone strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he had ordered the IDF to step up its offensive against the terrorist group.

In another sign of the pressure the Israeli government is feeling, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the bombing of the Lebanese capital.

“For every drone explodes, 10 buildings must fall in Beirut,” he wrote.

Lessons from Ukraine

It seems that Hezbollah has been closely watching the events in Ukraine.

The battlefields of that eastern country are characterized by the rapid development of drone warfare, with both Ukraine and Russia rushing to develop and deploy advanced UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles.

One of the important achievements has been the use of kilometers of fiber optic cables to tie drones to their operators and eliminate the possibility of radio transmission being blocked.

The cable also provides the operator with a high-quality view of the terrain and potential targets below.

“Fiber optic is almost perfect if you’re good [drone] the pilot and you’ve got the route planned … you can attack the troops on the other side of the hill, and you won’t lose that radio,” Tollast said.

While Ukraine and Russia now mass-produce and fly thousands of drones every day, Hezbollah seems to rely on traditional methods of acquiring them, such as ordering them from e-commerce sites like AliExpress.

The Alhurra news site reported that Lebanese customs have no restrictions on importing spools of fiber optic wire.

Avoiding Israeli air defenses

The Israeli army entered about twelve kilometers south of Lebanon, demolishing buildings and attacking what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in an attempt to reduce Hezbollah’s ability to fire rockets into northern Israel.

That left its troops vulnerable to drones that could fly down and evade Israeli air defenses.

“It’s very difficult to find these quadcopters. They don’t leave many signatures,” said Yaakov Lappin, an Israel-based military and strategic affairs analyst and research associate with the Alma Research and Education Center.

“It’s a nightmare for any radar detection.”

Hezbollah’s social media and TV channels are full of short videos showing attacks aimed at Israeli soldiers and military equipment.

CBC’s visual verification team examined more than half a dozen videos posted on official Hezbollah sites and determined that the first-person view (FPV) videos are likely authentic and not the product of AI.

One video published on Wednesday showed what appeared to be a Hezbollah quadcopter hitting a multimillion-dollar Israeli anti-missile system placed behind a barricaded wall. It is unclear what, if anything, was damaged.

In one of the most violent incidents on April 26, at least one Hezbollah warplane attacked a convoy of Israeli soldiers evacuating people from an earlier strike, killing one soldier and injuring six others. The CBC was able to confirm two videos showing the incident.

Lappin says Hezbollah also uses its drones as roadside bombs by placing them close to where Israeli forces might go and waiting for an opportunity to launch again.

“They call it ‘perching,’ where they sleep and never work again,” Lappin said. “They cannot be seen physically until someone sees them physically.”

Delayed reaction

Earlier this month, Netanyahu said he had started a “counter-drone project” but warned that developing effective countermeasures “will take time.” On Monday, he said he had authorized heavy strikes in Lebanon in response to an increase in drone attacks.

“The IDF has had warnings about this and it’s too late,” Lappin said of the drone threat.

After that, the IDF said it had installed approx 58,000 square meters of netting to protect its vehicles and soldiers, and more to come.

Other possible counter-drone methods include using AI-enhanced guns called “smart shooters” where soldiers can shoot drones from the ground with high precision.

Some Israeli tanks are also equipped with “active defense systems” that use small radars to detect incoming objects, such as anti-tank missiles, and fire anti-tank missiles just before they hit.

The IDF “didn’t expect this fiber optic threat to arrive so quickly on their doorstep,” said Tollast, a RUSI expert. “[Hezbollah’s] drone operators seem to have picked up on this quickly. “

Tollast believes that the Israelis will be able to adapt quickly. “But it’s a question of changing the training, changing the doctrine and I don’t think that will happen overnight.”

‘The fear of the mind’

It’s not just the damage done by drones to vehicles and the threat to soldiers that worries the IDF – it’s also their ability to terrorize soldiers and civilians, Lappin said.

“It [creates] psychological fear, because IDF soldiers know that there is a race against time to come up with solutions and until those solutions are there, they will feel exposed,” he said.

Hezbollah’s drone innovation has implications beyond the battlefields of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

“We’re going to enter a situation where basically any enemy, non-state terrorists, some of them supported by bad actors, will be able to deliver air threats anywhere in the world,” Lappin said.

“This is like a poor man’s air force and therefore … a wake-up call for everyone, the whole West. This threat is very accessible.”