Hezbollah publishes surveillance drone footage it says shows locations in Israel

Hezbollah has published a nine-minute 31 second-long video of what it says is drone footage gathered from its surveillance aircraft of locations in Israel, including the sea and air ports of the key northern city of Haifa.

Distribution of the footage had been flagged up by the Lebanese armed movement, including on its Telegram channel, advising viewers on several channels to “watch and analyse” what it said were “important scenes”, including the cryptic message that it would show the “hoopoe had brought back”.

Hezbollah has sent surveillance and attack drones into Israel in the past eight months as it exchanges fire with the Israeli military in parallel to the Gaza war.

The decision to broadcast the footage, which included images of residential and military sites in and around the main northern city of Haifa, including port facilities, appeared aimed as much at an Israeli as at a wider international audience.

It is unclear, however, when the footage was filmed, and the IDF has not commented on the video.

The head of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in November that Hezbollah had been sending surveillance drones over Haifa.

The US and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border.

The footage, if confirmed as real, would underline the mounting difficulties Israel has encountered in dealing with the drone threat from Hezbollah, including several incidents where incoming drones were not detected by Israeli air defence systems, including a recent attack on a group of Israeli troops that killed one person.

Experts have assessed that Hezbollah is using a combination of tactics to avoid its drones being detected, including flying low and using multiple channels to avoid jamming technology.

Although about 150 drones have been intercepted, others have got through to their targets, with Israeli officials disclosing that they have begun expending millions of shekels to counter the drone threat.

Among reported planned improvements to Israel’s air defence systems are upgrades to the Iron Dome system to make it better equipped to deal with slower flying unmanned aircraft and the reintroduction of retired conventional anti-aircraft weapons, include the Vulcan system.