Deadly drone strike on Golani training base underlines Israel’s continued struggle against Hezbollah drones
Israel’s 2023 war is history’s second large arena in new phase of drone warfare
Sunday evening saw the deadliest drone strike by Hezbollah in the current war, killing four IDF soldiers and wounding 58 others in the Golani Brigade’s training base near Binyamina.
The attack highlights Israel’s ongoing struggle to defend against drone infiltrations, as well as the high effectiveness that even cheap, mass-produced unmanned aircraft can achieve against high-tech defenses like the Iron Dome system.
“This is the world’s first drone war,” Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Zvika Haimovich, commander of the Israeli Air Defense Command from 2015 to 2018, told The Media Line.
Visiting the attacked base on Monday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, "This is a difficult event with painful results. We must investigate it, study the details, and assimilate the lessons in a quick and professional manner."
"Faced with the threat of drones, we are concentrating a national effort and are engaged in developing solutions that will help deal with the threat."
While the IDF hasn’t disclosed exact statistics, the Alma Research and Education Center says there were at least 556 incidents of Hezbollah drones targeting Israel, involving some 1,500 drones. Hundreds more drones were launched by terror groups in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as the Iranian regime.
According to reports in Israeli media, the drone Hezbollah used on Sunday was a Mirsad-1, the one used most often by the Lebanese-based terror group. Contrary to unconfirmed eyewitness accounts, this type doesn’t carry missiles but is designed to explode on impact – a so-called suicide drone.
According to Alma, the Mirsad-1 was based on an Iranian model and slightly adapted for Hezbollah’s needs. It carries a warhead of around 40 kilograms of explosives, can fly up to a speed of 370 kilometers (230 miles) per hour, and has an operational range of around 120 kilometers (75 miles).
Hezbollah managed to penetrate the first layer of aerial defense firing several drones simultaneously, in addition to a barrage of rockets roughly around the same time. While some of the drones and rockets were intercepted close to the border, one managed to slip through.
What isn’t clear yet is how the drone wasn’t subsequently detected while flying over 60 kilometers (37 miles) into the country, allowing it to hit its target without even activating alarm sirens.
Incredibly, residents of Yokneam, which lies between Haifa and the eventual target near Binyamina, spotted the drone flying over their houses and alerted the police.
At 7:08 p.m., the information was transferred to the air control unit of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) using a mechanism created exactly for this type of scenario. However, the relevant IAF unit misidentified the drone, believing it to be an Israeli aircraft, and informed the police who closed the incident around 7:12 p.m.
Three minutes later, the drone crashed into the dining hall in the Golani base, which was filled with unsuspecting soldiers as they were having their dinner.
Despite being the most serious incident of its kind, it comes after a string of similar failures to detect and shoot down drones. Just last Friday, during Yom Kippur, a Hezbollah drone struck the Tel Aviv area for the first time, hitting a nursing home in Herzliya, without causing casualties.
A week before, two Israeli soldiers were killed and two more severely wounded when a drone launched from Iraq slammed into their base in the Golan Heights, again without activating alarm sirens.
In July, a Houthi drone launched from Yemen, that had swung around to attack from the sea, struck a building in Tel Aviv, killing one civilian and injuring 10 others.
The vaunted Israeli aerial defense that manages to shoot down well above 90% of rockets and missiles has so far struggled significantly to contain the drone threat.
“All of the regional players recognized the potential and the complex challenges that Israel faces in dealing with them. We will see this challenge continue,” said Haimovich.
Israel’s current war marks the beginning of a new phase of drone warfare, being the second major war where unmanned aircraft have played a major role, after the Russia-Ukraine War. While Ukraine has developed some technologies to deal with the threat and reportedly offered them to Israel, the Jewish State prefers to develop solutions more tailored to its needs.
According to media reports, the IDF even recalled its old anti-aircraft guns, which had gathered dust in warehouses for decades, and began to refurbish them for service near the border, where they could be an inexpensive, though partial, solution.
IDF leaders have acknowledged the difficulties in dealing with drone attacks and have repeated the mantra that "no defense is hermetic," urging citizens to enter a shelter and stay there for at least 10 minutes as soon as alarm sirens are activated.
However, this doesn't help if the drones aren't even detected. Israel has pinned most hopes on the “Iron Beam” laser system, which is expected to become operational soon.
Until then, the Israeli military will have to use multi-million dollar systems to combat the cheaply made drones or find a way to defeat its enemies so thoroughly that they won’t dare fire even one drone at the Jewish state.
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Hanan Lischinsky has a Master’s degree in Middle East & Israel studies from Heidelberg University in Germany, where he spent part of his childhood and youth. He finished High School in Jerusalem and served in the IDF’s Intelligence Corps. Hanan and his wife live near Jerusalem, and he joined ALL ISRAEL NEWS in August 2023.
