BEIRUT — Lebanon‘s militant Hezbollah group launched one of its deepest strikes into Israel in mid-May, using an explosive drone that scored a direct hit on one of Israel’s most significant air force surveillance systems.
This and other successful drone attacks have given the Iranian-backed militant group another deadly option for an expected retaliation against Israel for its airstrike in Beirut last month that killed top Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukur.
“It is a threat that has to be taken seriously,” Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said of Hezbollah’s drone capability.
While Israel has built air defense systems, including the Iron Dome and David’s Sling to guard against Hezbollah’s rocket and missile arsenal, there has been less focus on the drone threat.
“And as a result there has been less effort to build defensive capabilities” against drones, Hinz said.
Drones, or UAVS, are unmanned aircraft that can be operated from afar. Drones can enter, surveil and attack enemy territory more discreetly than missiles and rockets.
Hezbollah proclaimed the success of its May drone strike, which targeted a blimp used as part of Israel’s missile defense system at a base about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Lebanon border.
The militants released footage showing what they said was their explosive Ababil drone flying toward the Sky Dew blimp, and later released…
