Hezbollah brings in new weapons in conflict with Israel

Lebanon's Hezbollah has announced that it used a powerful drone, capable of firing rockets at a sensitive military position to target a military facility in northern Israel.

The drone, equipped with two S-5 rockets, hit a key Israeli military installation in Metula in northern Israel.

The Lebanese group published a video showing the drone heading towards the military position, where Israeli tanks were stationed, with the footage showing the moment the two rockets were released followed by the drone exploding.

It was the first time Hezbollah has announced the use of this type of weapon since the cross-border exchanges with Israel erupted in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise blitz in Israel.

Israeli army acknowledged that Hezbollah managed to hit a sensitive military facility in the Lower Galilee with an explosive drone. The drones struck the Israeli Air Force base, where the giant missile-detecting blimp, known as Sky Dew, is operated, as per the Times of Israel.

'Extensive damage'

On Friday Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant acknowledged "extensive damage" in northern Israel due to the ongoing cross-border fighting with Hezbollah, local media reported.

Gallant said that Tel Aviv has to prepare and take into account that anything can happen. He added: "As I told the troops before we entered Gaza, and they didn't believe me, I also tell you: Wait, we will act."

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army reported that approximately 75 rockets were launched from Lebanon.

In a related incident, Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency medical service, reported that two Israelis were injured due to the barrage of rockets from Lebanon targeting the Upper Galilee in northern Israel.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Tsnobar base in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights with 50 Katyusha rockets and artillery positions in Al-Zaura, northern Israel.

An Israeli air strike on the town of Najjarieh in the Sidon district on Friday resulted in the death of two children and a Hezbollah member.

Armed attack drone

Hezbollah-affiliated media said that the drone's warhead consisted of between 25 and 30 kilogrammes (55 and 66 pounds) of high explosive.

Military analyst Khalil Helou told the AFP new agency that the use of drones offers Hezbollah the ability to launch the attack from within Israeli territory, as they can fly at low altitudes, evading detection by radar.

Hezbollah also said that it had launched a strike using "attack drones" on a base west of the northern Israeli town of Tiberias.

That attack was the group's deepest into Israeli territory since fighting flared, analysts said.

In recent weeks, the Lebanese fighter group has announced attacks that it has described as "complex", using attack drones and missiles to hit military positions, as well as troops and vehicles.

It has also used guided and heavy missiles, such as Burkan and Almas missiles, as well as the Mughniyeh missile, named after a Hezbollah leader killed by Israeli fire in Syria in 2015.

Helou, a retired general, said that depite its new weaponry, Hezbollah still relied primarily on Kornet anti-tank missiles with a range of just five to eight kilometres.

They also use the Konkurs anti-tank missile, which can penetrate Israel's Iron Dome defence system.

Signs of escalation

Hezbollah has said repeatedly that it has advanced weapons capable of striking deep inside Israeli territory.

The group has expanded the range of its attacks in response to strikes targeting its munitions and infrastructure, or its military commanders.

Experts say that Hezbollah's targeting of the base near Tiberias and its use of the rocket-equipped drone "can be interpreted as a response to the attack on Brital, but it remains a shy response compared to the group's capabilities".

"Hezbollah does not wish to expand the circle of the conflict," Helou said.

"What is happening is a war of attrition through which it is trying to distract the Israeli army" from Gaza and seeking to prevent it from "launching a wide-ranging attack on Lebanon".