Hezbollah's Deadly Drone Attack Shows Israel's Vulnerability

Israeli Iron Dome/DOK Defense Forces via WIkimedia Commons

JAKARTA - On Sunday evening, a drone launched from southern Lebanon, was able to penetrate Israel's air defenses undetected and hit a Golani Brigade base about 40 miles from the Israeli border.

It happened right after 7 pm. at dinner time.

Although Israeli military has not released any details about the location of the impact, photos from the scene clearly show the drone hit the base's dining room.

The attack killed four soldiers and injured more than 60 others, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

By CNN, Monday, October 14, Israel's air defense system was impressive, intercepting and destroying most of the projectiles fired into the country.

For the first time, the drone Hezbollah sent over the weekend managed to escape without triggering an Israeli warning system. The soldiers in the dining room were attacked without any warning.

While the IDF has yet to say what type of drone was used in the attack, experts told CNN it is likely a drone that is a Mirsad drone, a type known in Iran as an Ababil drone.

Orna Mizrahi, a senior researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told CNN the unmanned aerial vehicle was harder to detect as it was small, very light, and had very low radar range.

Iran and its allies are trying to overload Israel's defense system, Mizrahi said, adding drones to the effort after identifying them as "weakness" for Israel.

Daniel Sobelman, an international security expert at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, said it showed Hezbollah was still capable of attacking.

"This is a clear indication that Hezbollah has regained its strategic balance after a crushing blow to the leadership and authorities of its recent command and control," he said, referring to the assassination of longtime leader Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah and other high-ranking officials.