Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
An Israeli soldier was killed, and another was wounded in a Hezbollah drone strike in southern Lebanon on April 30, while another drone strike by the group hit an artillery post on the border, wounding twelve other troops.
The incidents came amid a ceasefire that has seen regular exchange of strikes between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah. The ceasefire was declared by United States President Donald Trump, who initially said it would last for ten days, before announcing a three week extension.
The slain soldier, who served in the ranks of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, was killed when Hezbollah launched two “explosive-laden drones” at troops stationed in the town of Qantara, according to the IDF, which said that one of the drones was intercepted by troops, while the second struck near the forces, killing the soldier and wounding another moderately.
Hezbollah took responsibility, claiming in a statement to have targeted two Israeli Merkava main battle tanks in Qantara with drones.
Separately, a drone launched by Hezbollah struck an artillery shell carrier — an M548, known in the IDF as the Alfa —, which caught fire, at an artillery site near the northern Israel border settlement of Shomera. Several artillery shells in the area also exploded.
Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
The IDF said that the drone strike wounded 12 soldiers, noting that two of them were moderately hurt, while the rest were in good condition.
Hezbollah also took responsibility for the devastating drone strike, claiming to have targeted a howitzer of the IDF close to Shomera.
The IDF said that it was investigating whether the drone was guided by a fiber optic cable, which is immune to electronic jamming. Hezbollah has been using fiber optic-guided first-person view (FPV) drones in attacks on troops in southern Lebanon in recent weeks.
Since the start of the ceasefire, most of Israel’s losses were caused by such drones. In fact just two days earlier, an Israeli Defense Ministry civilian contractor was killed and another was wounded in a similar drone strike.
The slain contractor, who is not immediately named, was operating heavy engineering machinery in the Aitaroun area, close to the town of Bint Jbeil.
An FPV drone directly struck the excavator being operated by the contractor, killing him. The contractor’s son, who worked for the same company employed by the defense ministry, was lightly wounded by shrapnel in the incident.
In response to this growing threat, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced earlier in the week that he had ordered a “special project” to confront Hezbollah drones, noting that it “will take time”.
FPV drones, which are cheap, easy to operate and lethal, have been to some extent a game changer for Hezbollah. The number of attacks seems to be increasing everyday, and with time, Israel’s so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon could turn into a kill zone.
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