Inexpensive fiber-optic drones are challenging Israel’s high-tech defenses, shifting the military balance in the Middle East.

A recent video showing an explosive-laden drone striking an Israeli Iron Dome battery couldn’t have been more symbolic: Israel’s famous air-defense system, which cost billions of euros, looked powerless against a small aircraft that cost a few hundred euros.

While the video’s authenticity has not yet been verified, experts believe it is genuine.

The footage was published about a week ago by Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based pro-Iranian militia, which Germany, the US and several Sunni Arab states have classified as a terrorist organization.

The drone strike, if genuine, would mark propaganda victory for Hezbollah and reveal a significant vulnerability in Israel’s military capabilities.

  • Photonic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    47
    ·
    13 hours ago

    How arrogant the Israeli leadership was to think it couldn’t happen to them when it’s been happening on the Ukrainian battlefield for a few years now. With Iranian-made drones no less.