Hezbollah drone strike videos show evolving tactics against Israel

Hezbollah has increased its use of small first-person view (FPV) drones to attack Israel, including systems controlled by fibre-optic cables to evade sophisticated defences.

BBC Verify has geolocated 35 videos shared by the Lebanese armed group since 26 March which show strikes on Israeli soldiers, armoured vehicles and air defence systems in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Experts told BBC Verify the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has "so far been unable to develop any effective countermeasures", as the small drones can easily bypass detection systems.

The drones can also be made from commercially available and 3D-printed components - and are cheap compared to the high-value targets they can destroy, experts also said.

The use of cheap FPV drones became widespread during the Russia-Ukraine war and has changed modern warfare.

While the Israeli military has not published all casualty details, Israeli media reports indicate four IDF soldiers and one civilian have been killed in FPV strikes, with dozens more injured.

The IDF told BBC Verify it recognises the threat from drones and is investing "significant resources" in improving defences, developing "more effective alert models" and training soldiers for "improving readiness and increasing awareness of the threat".

According to the Institute for National Security Studies, the IDF has also been using FPV drones for several years, currently operating with them in southern Lebanon and against Hamas in Gaza.

Hisham Jaber, a military analyst and former Lebanese army general, told BBC Arabic the FPV drones can be "undetectable by radar" and the "hundreds" of them at Hezbollah's disposal have been used to disable armoured vehicles - including tanks.

Hezbollah has been using several types of larger attack drones against targets in northern Israel for many years, Jaber added, but the use of FPVs represents an "entirely different category".

BBC Verify has found videos of nearly 100 apparent FPV attacks shared on Hezbollah's Telegram channel since 26 March, 35 of which have been verified. Hezbollah does not appear to have shared any footage of similar strikes from the conflict beginning on 2 March.

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.