Middle East

Invisible drones and missiles: Hezbollah's escalation

Hezbollah's announced escalation seems to be materialising, in the hours when Benyamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea, almost 100 kilometres from the Lebanese border, was also targeted

2' min read

2' min read

Guided missiles and swarms of invisible drones: the announced escalation of Hezbollah seems to be taking shape, in the hours in which Benyamin Netanyahu's residence in Cesarea, almost 100 kilometres away from the Lebanese border, was also targeted.

Last Thursday, the militiamen of the Party of God had launched a new war proclamation, "a new phase of escalation" against the Jewish state, on the day the killing in Gaza of Yahya Sinwar and for this reason sounded to most as an attempt to rekindle the spirits of the supporters, already marked by the substantial decapitation of the Shiite movement's top leadership with the killing of its leaders by Israel, starting with Hassan Nasrallah.

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Hezbollah has started to use 'precision missiles against enemy soldiers', was the announcement, which came after they claimed to have hit two Israeli tanks.

Guerra Hamas-Israele, le immagini del 19 ottobre

Photogallery23 foto

The group allegedly has more than 100,000 missiles of various types, including rockets and old Scuds, while precision missiles according to Western intelligence sources number at least 1,500 and have a range of up to 300 kilometres.

On the drones front then, capable of evading radar by rendering themselves essentially invisible, Hezbollah can count on vigorous Iranian support, with Tehran having become one of the most important producers in the sector over the years, and on other modified models, still made in Iran.

Its arsenal would consist mainly of Mirsad drones: the first version, equipped with an engine that is difficult to track, has an estimated range of 120 kilometres and a speed of over 300 km/h. It can carry up to 40 kilograms of explosives. The second version is larger and easily framed by defences.

Despite denials over the years from Beirut, experts agree they are modified versions of the Iranian Ababil-T and Mheger drones. In addition to the Mirsads, according to Israeli and Western experts, Hezbollah's Unit 127 in charge of the drone sector has the Russian Dr3s, which are as imposing - they are over 14 metres long - as they are basically unusable, and the Iranian Karrars, which are highly traceable.

However, there are also the deadly Shahed, Tehran's flagship: the kamikaze drones par excellence that claim victims in Ukraine are electrically powered, have a range of hundreds of kilometres and a death load of 50 kilos of explosives.

And then there are the Yasir Qods, very small and fast, with a range of up to 100 kilometres, or the Ziyad 107, which reportedly hit a military base last week, killing four soldiers: launched in a swarm, they manage to confuse the adversary defences. In Israel, countermeasures are being considered, from the M61 Vulcan, a machine gun with more than 6,000 rounds per minute, to the Magen Or, the 'Shield of Light', a laser defence system that has yet to be developed. And at least eight Israeli companies in the field have reportedly already submitted plans for other anti-drone systems.

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