IDF investigates lack of warning before latest Hezbollah UAV attack

Four Israeli soldiers were killed and more than 60 wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack on a military base near Binyamina, a town north of Tel Aviv, about 65 kilometers from the Lebanese border, CNN reported. The dead soldiers were undergoing infantry training at the base, while the injured are still in hospital.

Earlier, Hezbollah said on October 13 that it had launched a series of UAVs to attack an Israeli infantry training camp in Binyamina. The armed group said the attack was in response to deadly Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon four days earlier.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Golani Brigade, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) infantry unit deployed in southern Lebanon. The claim of responsibility for the attack came shortly after Hezbollah released a message from its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah calling on members of the group to “defend the people, the family, the nation, the values.”

Normally, Israel's air defense system is considered very reliable, but in the October 13 incident, there was no warning in the Binyamina area at the time of the attack, raising questions about how the UAV was able to penetrate deep into Israeli territory without being detected.

Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets toward the northern Israeli towns of Nahariya and Acre to attack Israeli air defense systems, and also launched drones.

"The UAVs passed through Israel's defense radar system undetected and reached their target at the elite Golani Brigade training camp in Binyamina," Hezbollah said.

Senior IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military will investigate the vulnerability that allowed the UAV to enter the base without raising an alarm.

"We will learn from this and investigate the incident. The threat from UAVs is a threat we have faced since the beginning of the war. We need to improve our defense capabilities," he said.

The Binyamina attack comes nearly two weeks after Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon. The IDF has insisted that the operation is “limited,” although the facts on the ground suggest that it may be preparing for a wider and longer-lasting operation.

The IDF has ordered the evacuation of a quarter of Lebanon's territory and deployed units from four different IDF divisions to the border area, while continuing its intense air campaign.

According to statistics from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, since September 16, more than 1,500 people have been killed and at least 8,000 injured in Lebanon.

Tensions continued to rise on October 13 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon to withdraw from the area following several incidents involving the IDF that left five members of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) injured.

At the same time, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Israel would not allow Hezbollah to return to border villages in southern Lebanon after the Israeli army left the area.

Despite the ground campaign targeting infrastructure, Hezbollah continues to fire dozens of rockets into Israel daily. The October 13 attack also raised concerns about Hezbollah’s ability to use long-range drones against Israel, as it came just two days after another attack that the IDF said involved two drones launched from Lebanon.