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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor

US intervention points to growing concerns over Israel’s air defences

People crying and leaning on a casket draped in the Israeli flag
Mourners at the funeral of a 19-year-old Israeli soldier killed by an unmanned aerial vehicle strike on a military base. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA

As Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah and Iran has escalated, it has begun to show a degree of vulnerability. A Hezbollah drone evaded Israel’s much vaunted air defences on Sunday and struck a military canteen when it was busy with soldiers eating dinner. Four were killed and 58 wounded, seven seriously, at a location 40 miles south of the Lebanese border.

The drone that hit the canteen of the Golani base near Binyamina appears to have been part of a synchronised attack that allowed it to elude the country’s well organised air defences. Three drones flew from Lebanon over the Mediterranean, and though they were all initially spotted, and two shot down, the other was able to reach its target.

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