Several Israeli Merkava tanks were destroyed in recent days in southern Lebanon by the Shiite militia Hezbollah, which uses fiber-optic suicide drones. This was reported by the Naharnet news portal.
According to the portal, unlike conventional radio-controlled drones, fiber-optic drones are immune to electronic warfare. The optical fibers provide high-quality image transmission, which allows the operator to precisely direct the suicide drones to Israeli armored vehicles. Hezbollah's head of military information, Yousef al-Zain, confirmed to the portal that these drones were manufactured in Lebanon. He claims that despite the enemy's military and technical superiority, Shiite militias find "weak spots" to inflict damage on Israeli troops.
The fiber-optic drones target modern Merkava tanks, Caterpillar D9 bulldozers, Zelda armored personnel carriers and enemy troop concentrations. Israeli commanders have reported the deaths of two soldiers and one civilian in such attacks, despite a ceasefire agreement in effect since April 17.
As Orna Mizrahi, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), explained in a statement quoted by the Naharnet portal, the Israeli military was surprised by Hezbollah's use of low-tech explosive devices resembling quadcopters. According to her, the Israeli army is looking for an effective solution to counter this threat.
On April 30, Hezbollah announced that its fighters had hit four Israeli armored vehicles with suicide drones. Two Merkava tanks were destroyed during an attack on an occupation convoy in the village of Al-Qantara, and two others were destroyed near the town of Bint Jubail, where another armed attack took place. The same day, a drone explosion in the northern Israeli village of Shomera wounded 12 soldiers.