Israel faces a fierce and evasive enemy in Hezbollah’s drones

People mourn the flag-covered coffin of Israeli soldier Sgt. Amitai Alon, killed by a Hezbollah drone strike, during his funeral near Ramot Naftali, Israel, Monday, October 14, 2024. (Leo Correa/AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel – One of the worst mass casualty attacks on Israel in a year of war came neither from dozens of Iranian ballistic missiles nor from the repeated barrage of rocket fire launched by Hamas and Hezbollah. Instead, it was a single drone.

The unmanned aerial vehicle, loaded with explosives, evaded Israel’s multi-layered air defense system and crashed into a dining hall of a military training camp deep in Israel, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens.

It is the latest achievement by Hezbollah’s drone fleet and has shed light on Israel’s struggle over the past year of war to shoot down unmanned aircraft flying in from as far away as Yemen, Iraq and Iran.

Over the years, Israel has built up its air defense system to provide broad protection against short-range and medium- and long-range missiles, although experts warn it is not airtight. Although the system has repeatedly disabled drones, many have entered Israeli airspace and bypassed defense lines, in some cases with deadly consequences.

The drone crossed Israeli airspace unhindered

On Sunday evening, reports emerged of a mass casualty about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the Lebanese border. Israeli media said a drone landed in a mess hall full of troops who were eating, killing four soldiers and injuring 67 people.

A few minutes earlier, sirens had sounded in northern Israel as the plane flew over. But no sirens sounded at the base, giving soldiers no advance warning and indicating that the drone may have fallen outside Israel’s radar.

An Israeli security official said Israel is still investigating how the drone got past Israeli air defenses. A pair of drones initially entered Israeli airspace, but while one was shot down, the other continued to track its target.

Hezbollah, which said the attack was in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, said the drone was “capable of penetrating Israeli air defense radars without being detected” and achieving its target. It claimed it outmaneuvered Israeli air defenses by firing dozens of missiles and “squadrons” of drones at once.

It was the second deadly drone strike in just two weeks. Earlier this month, a drone launched from Iraq killed two Israeli soldiers and injured about 20, according to Israeli media. On Friday, during a major Jewish holiday, a Hezbollah drone crashed into a nursing home in central Israel, causing damage.

“We have already had six deaths from drones in the last ten days. That is too much,” said Ran Kochav, former head of the Israeli army’s air defense command.

Drones, he said, “have become a real threat.”

Drones are more difficult to detect and track than missiles

Drones, or UAVs, are unmanned aircraft that can be controlled remotely. Drones can enter, monitor and attack enemy territory more discreetly than rockets and missiles. Israel has a formidable arsenal of drones that can carry out espionage missions and attacks. It has developed a drone that can reach arch-enemy Iran, about 1,500 kilometers away.

But Israel’s enemies have overwhelmed Israel a number of times in the past year, often with deadly consequences. In July, a drone launched from Yemen traveled some 270 kilometers (160 miles) from Israel’s southern tip, all the way to Tel Aviv, crashing into a downtown building and killing one person without being intercepted.

The Israeli security official said drones are harder to detect for a number of reasons: they fly slowly and often contain plastic parts, and with radar systems have a weaker thermal footprint than powerful missiles and rockets. The trajectory is also more difficult to follow. Drones can have a circuitous flight path, can come from any direction, fly lower to the ground and – because they are much smaller than rockets – can be mistaken for birds.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation into the canteen strike was still ongoing.

Kochav said Israel has focused for years on strengthening its air defense systems to improve protection against missiles. But drones were not seen as a top priority. During the current fighting, that has meant that Israel’s ability to detect and intercept drones has not been as successful as its capabilities against missiles, Kochav said.

Hezbollah’s drone program receives support from Iran

Hezbollah began using Iranian-made drones after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 and sent the first Mirsad reconnaissance drone over Israeli airspace in 2004. Hezbollah’s drone program continues to receive significant support from Iran, and the UAVs are believed to be assembled by experts from the militant group in Lebanon.

Drones have become an “Iranian-inspired strategic system” for Hezbollah, said Tal Beeri, research director at the Alma Research and Education Center, a think tank that studies Hezbollah and northern Israel. By the group’s count, the militant group has launched about 1,500 surveillance and attack drones since attacking Israel in October 2023.

The attack drones, which according to Beeri often hit civilian targets, carry a load of 10 kilograms of explosives and can fly hundreds of kilometers. He said Hezbollah used a drone capable of firing an anti-tank missile for the first and only time in May and that it may possess more.

Hezbollah has also used drones to erode Israel’s air defense capabilities by ramming them into the batteries and infrastructure intended to take them down. Earlier this year, Hezbollah said it used an Ababil explosive drone to shoot down Israel’s Sky Dew observation balloon, part of its air defense.

Israel says it is working to counter the threat

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed during a visit to the drone-hit training camp to learn from the attack and said Israel is focusing “significant efforts on developing solutions” to tackle the drone threat. without going into further detail.

Kochav said there are ways to combat the drones that could be considered. Detection capabilities could be expanded to include acoustic radars that can pick up drone engine noise or electro-optics, allowing Israeli surveillance to better identify them. He said missiles, fighter jets and helicopters could be deployed for interception, and electronic warfare could be used to catch up and distract the drones.

“We were busy in recent years… and unmanned aerial vehicles were not a top priority,” he said. “Unfortunately the results are not good.”

Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.