Hezbollah has a large arsenal of weapons, which has expanded significantly in recent years.
Beirut:
The powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it used a drone capable of firing rockets at a military position in one of its latest attacks in northern Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah have been involved in almost daily exchanges of fire since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.
– Drones, rockets –
Hezbollah announced that it used an “armed attack drone” equipped with two S-5 rockets against a military position in Metula, in northern Israel.
The Iran-backed group published a video showing the drone heading towards the position where the tanks were parked, with the footage showing the moment the two rockets were launched followed by the drone exploding.
It was the first time they announced the use of this type of weapon since cross-border exchanges with Israel broke out in October.
The Israeli army said three soldiers were injured in Thursday’s attack.
Hezbollah-affiliated media said the drone’s warhead consisted of between 25 and 30 kilograms (55 and 66 pounds) of high explosive.
Military analyst Khalil Helou told AFP that the use of drones gives Hezbollah the ability to launch the attack from Israeli territory, as they can fly at low altitudes, avoiding radar detection.
Hezbollah also announced on Wednesday that it had launched an attack using “strike drones” against a base west of the city of Tiberias in northern Israel.
That attack was the group’s deepest into Israeli territory since fighting began, analysts said.
In recent weeks, the Lebanese militant group has announced attacks it described as “complex,” using attack drones and missiles to target military positions as well as troops and vehicles.
It also used guided and heavy missiles, such as Iran’s Burkan and Almas missiles, as well as the Jihad Mughniyeh missile, named after a Hezbollah leader killed by Israeli fire in Syria in 2015.
Helou, a retired general, said that despite its new weaponry, Hezbollah still relied mainly on Kornet anti-tank missiles with a range of just five to eight kilometers.
They also use the Konkurs anti-tank missile, which can penetrate Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
– Escalation sign? –
Hezbollah has a large arsenal of weapons, which has expanded significantly in recent years.
The group has repeatedly stated that it has advanced weapons capable of striking deep into Israeli territory.
Analysts have described the skirmishes between Israel and Hamas as a war of “attrition,” in which each side tests the other as well as its own tactics.
Hezbollah expanded the scope of its attacks in response to attacks targeting its munitions and infrastructure, or its military commanders.
One such Israeli strike on Wednesday targeted the village of Brital in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, with the Israeli army later announcing that it had hit a “terrorist target related to Hezbollah’s precision missile project.” .
Helou said Hezbollah’s attack on the base near Tiberias and use of the rocket-equipped drone “could be interpreted as a response to the attack on Brital, but it remains a timid response compared to the group’s capabilities.”
He suggested that the Israeli strike likely hit an Iranian missile depot that had not yet been used by Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah does not wish to expand the circle of conflict,” Helou said.
“What is happening is a war of attrition through which we try to distract the Israeli army” from Gaza and seek to prevent it from “launching a comprehensive attack on Lebanon”.
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