One verified video shared on Thursday shows at least four FPV drones attacking an Israeli border outpost near Kiryat Shmona, targeting a series of military vehicles in sequence. At least two of them can be seen heavily damaged or destroyed in the clips.
BBC Verify has also tracked similar drone strikes in south Lebanon, including documenting at least two strikes on 26 April in the town of Taybeh. The videos show soldiers being targeted, followed by a strike nearby to an IDF helicopter in the process of rescuing injured troops. Israeli media has reported one soldier was killed and six others injured.
Many of these drones are flown using fibre optic cable connections – rather than radio or other wireless signals – making them difficult to intercept with current Israeli electronic counter-measures.
Dr Andreas Krieg, a security expert from King’s College London, told BBC Verify the fibre-optics render Israel’s capacity to detect, jam and intercept drones “largely irrelevant” and makes finding the operator significantly more challenging.
The impact of this, he said, is Israeli troops “having to move more cautiously, harden positions, use physical protective measures such as nets and cages, and devote more attention to immediate local defence”.
Krieg added Hezbollah is most likely assembling the drones locally from commercially available components sourced from places like China, at a cost in the range of $300-$500 (£225-£375) each.
