BICOM

Hezbollah has carried out airstrikes on rebels in Syria using drones, according to video footage released on Tuesday.

The video, published by pro-Hezbollah media channels, showed a stationary drone dropping what appeared to be cluster bomblets onto rebels. The bomblets are seen falling and then exploding when they hit the ground. It shows three targets being hit by the drones, including structures and a vehicle.

According to the Times, this is the first confirmed airstrike from a drone by a terrorist group.

Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) speculated that the drone was a commercially-available quadracoptor with an added drop mechanism for releasing the bomblets. Quadracoptors are cheap and easy to fly, unlike earlier drones, and adding a drop mechanism is technically very simple.

Hezbollah has been experimenting with drones for some time. In the 2006 war against Israel, according to a research paper by Nadav Pollak cited in the Times of Israel, Hezbollah sent drones packed with explosives into Israel on kamikaze missions, but they either missed their targets or were intercepted. Hezbollah also claimed to have launched a drone air strike in Syria in 2014, but this is the first time there has been any evidence of an attack.

Another RUSI analyst in the Times notes that Israel is concerned about Hezbollah drone capacity, but suggests that these jury-rigged bomber drones are still primitive.

Hezbollah is fully embroiled in the Syrian civil war in support of the Assad regime. It is currently engaged in battles around Aleppo, where a large confrontation between regime and rebel forces is expected. The Lebanon Daily Star reported that eight Hezbollah fighters were killed around Aleppo on Sunday.

Though Hezbollah forces have proven to be effective military units in the conflict, the terror group have suffered heavy losses, with estimates in December 2015 that 1500 members had been killed and more than 5000 wounded. A number of senior commanders have also been killed in the field, and Syrian rebels have crossed into Lebanon to counterattack Hezbollah’s bases.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that Israel has carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Syria “dozens” of times to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons systems.

Hezbollah has also built up a huge arsenal on the border with Israel. Israeli sources estimate that Hezbollah today has 120,000 missiles, which is more than all European NATO countries.