Since the resumption of clashes in Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah appears to be trading rockets for fiber optic drones. These new devices pose a new threat to the Israeli state troops.
Low cost, difficult to detect and intercept… This is the profile of the fiber optic drones used by Hezbollah. Despite the ceasefire in place since April 17, fighting continues in southern Lebanon. Already struggling against the conventional drones of the pro-Iranian movement, Israel now faces a new threat. Explosive fiber optic drones have already caused casualties.
Accustomed to rockets for several decades, Hezbollah is gradually replacing its favorite weapon with these small drones, which prove to be much more effective.
Drones connected to their operators
Proven during the war in Ukraine, these fiber-optic-guided drones have inspired the terrorist group. They can carry an explosive payload of few kilos and are connected to their operator with a very thin cable, several kilometers long, sometimes up to twenty. These new devices are almost undetectable and difficult to intercept because they do not operate via radio link. Unlike traditional GPS-guided drones, fiber optic drones are not vulnerable to jamming.
At the beginning of the week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to senior officials that “there are still two main threats from Hezbollah: type 122 rockets and drones. This requires a combination of operational and technological actions.”
It remains to be seen whether this technological advancement will be enough to shift the balance of power, or if it will only accelerate the development of new defense systems on the Israeli side.
