Hezbollah has launched a new weapon against northern Israel in the latest round of fighting: small drones controlled with fiber-optic cables the width of dental floss that avoid electronic detection.
These drones — used widely in the war in Ukraine — are small, hard to track and potentially lethal. Many drones are susceptible to electronic jamming by air defenses. Jamming can cause a drone to crash or return to its point of origin. But fiber-optic drones are not controlled remotely. They have a thin cable that connects an operator directly to the drone, making it impossible to electronically jam. The drones are not infallible because the wind — or other drones — can cause the cables to tangle.
Read more…
Source: AP News
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Israel: Alerts in north triggered by two explosive-laden drones from Lebanon
December 16, 2023
Two apparently explosive-laden drones entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, setting off sirens in the Galilee Panhandle. One was intercepted by the Iron Dome, while the second hit an area near the northern community of Margaliot, according to the IDF. The IDF does not immediately publish information on potential casualties in the drone attack. Read more… Source: The Times ...
- Chinese peacekeepers fulfill commitments on peacekeeping battlefield in Lebanon
December 15, 2023
The 21st Chinese peacekeeping multi-role engineering company to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), formed by troops from a brigade under the PLA 75th Group Army, concluded its peacekeeping mission and returned to China successfully on the early morning of December 13. The 21st Chinese peacekeeping multi-role engineering company to UNIFIL completed mine-clearing, explosive ...
- Cluster Munitions: New Use, Transfers Challenge Total Ban
September 5, 2023
Civilian harm from new use of cluster munitions and recent transfers of the weapon show the urgent need for all countries to join the international ban on cluster munitions, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing the 96-page global “Cluster Munition Monitor 2023” report. Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles, ...
- Lebanon Is Still Littered With Land Mines
July 17, 2023
On a spring morning near the town of Aarab el-Louaizeh in southern Lebanon, 39-year-old Zeinab Hashem sported an unconventional outfit. In a heavy vest, helmet, and visor that chafed against her skin in the warm weather, Hashem slowly swung a metal detector to survey the few steps of dirt ground ahead of her before declaring ...
- Chinese peacekeepers in Lebanon awarded UN medals of peace
July 6, 2023
A total of 410 peacekeepers of the 21st Chinese peacekeeping contingent to Lebanon were awarded UN medals of peace on Tuesday for their outstanding commitment to maintaining stability and peace in the south of the country. A medal parade ceremony was held at the Chinese peacekeepers’ camp in Hanniyah village in southern Lebanon to honor the ...
- Lebanon: Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to clears eight minefields
June 12, 2023
BEIJING, June 12 — The handover ceremony for a new batch of minefields cleared by the Chinese peacekeepers was held near the “Blue Line” on the Lebanon-Israel border. The staff of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Command, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and other departments signed the minefield handover letter after ...
- Chinese peacekeepers safeguard peace with practical actions
February 3, 2023
Leaving Beirut, capital of Lebanon, all along the coastal highway southward and passing through bustling towns, you can see more checkpoints and armored vehicles of the United Nations peacekeeping force on road. In the south Lebanese city of Tyre about an hour and a half drive from here lies the barrack of the Chinese peacekeeping ...
- At Least 32 Peacekeeping, Associated Personnel Killed in Malicious Attacks during 2022, United Nations Staff Union President Says
January 20, 2023
At least 32 United Nations peacekeeping personnel — 28 military and four police, including one woman police officer — were killed in deliberate attacks in 2022, the United Nations Staff Union said today. For the ninth year in a row, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was the deadliest for peacekeepers with ...
- One careful step at a time through Lebanon’s minefields
December 27, 2022
A visit to a minefield starts with some crucial safety notes. And they will save your life – when you are just steps away from deadly buried explosives, you need to pay attention. Red-painted sticks dug into the ground mean danger. Tread any further and you risk stepping right onto a mine. White sticks are the ...
- Chinese peacekeepers to Lebanon obtains UN mine clearance and EOD certifications
September 1, 2022
On August 30, 62 members of the 21st Chinese peacekeeping multi-purpose engineer contingent to Lebanon passed the assessment conducted by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in just one try and obtained the certifications for mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) qualifications. The qualification assessment covers more than 30 items in 13 subjects concerning ...
- Lebanon’s Minefields | Clearing the hidden remnants of war | UN Story
June 15, 2022
Zeina Saleh is a young Lebanese woman working in mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) in southern Lebanon. Women working in the field of demining are rare. Zeina Saleh is amongst those very few women working under extremely risky conditions to realize her vision of a mine-free Lebanon. Zeina’s works to allow the safe passage ...
- Lebanon: Three Islamic State attacks thwarted in Beirut
February 23, 2022
‘A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out major bombing attacks’ Lebanon thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to carry out three suicide bombings targeting Shiite religious compounds in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the interior ministry said Wednesday. “A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out ...
- The Extraordinary Life of the Most Notorious Terrorist Before Bin Laden
January 6, 2022
If you asked someone to name the world’s most famous terrorist, chances are they would say Osama Bin Laden, the radical Islamist and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. But 50 years ago, before anyone even associated fundamentalist Islam with terrorism, public enemy number one was a radical left-wing militant most famous for his involvement with ...
- Lebanon: UN chief calls for impartial probe into Beirut Port blast
December 20, 2021
The U.N. chief called on Monday for an impartial and transparent investigation into last year’s massive Beirut port explosion to ensure justice, after paying tribute to the victims of the blast. The Aug. 4, 2020 blast has been described as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the world. It devastated the Lebanese capital, killing at ...
- Lebanon’s townspeople hope for mine-free orchards after two decades of fear
October 25, 2021
From the balcony of a mosque in Lebanon’s southern town of Abbasiya, a group of townspeople have been anxiously monitoring their orchards for two decades, as the land was planted with mines by the Israeli army before its withdrawal in 2000. Unfortunately, Lebanese authorities failed to clean the orchards and spare the town’s residents from the ...