Hezbollah launches largest coordinated drone swarm yet on northern Israel

Hezbollah has launched its largest drone attack yet against a target in northern Israel, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, as Israeli officials voiced growing concern over coordinated swarms of explosive drones.

The attack took place on Tuesday in two waves targeting Israeli military positions near the Lebanese border, Israeli broadcaster i24 reported.

The first wave reportedly involved two drones launched at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, wounding two soldiers, one moderately and the other lightly.

According to the channel, two additional drones targeted an area along the northern border, sparking a fire, while the Israeli air force attempted to intercept several of the drones.

Less than an hour later, Hezbollah launched a broader assault involving multiple drones aimed at the same target inside Israeli territory.

The drones reportedly circled overhead for several minutes searching for the "ideal strike point".

"I saw two of them hit the target, and within five seconds, we spotted another flying between buildings looking for people. You see everything with your own eyes, the fibre-optic reel, the drone and the huge explosive device," one Israeli soldier quoted by i24 said.

The broadcaster said this marked the first time a coordinated drone assault on a single target inside Israel had been detected on such a scale.

An Israeli security source cited by the channel said the main concern was the simultaneous deployment of large numbers of drones.

"Even if you intercept two or three, others remain and try to manoeuvre around and attack again," the source said.

The reports come amid an intensifying campaign by Hezbollah across southern Lebanon, with the group increasingly relying on coordinated FPV and suicide drone attacks alongside guided missiles and rocket barrages.

Lebanese outlet Al Akhbar reported on Wednesday that Hezbollah had expanded the geographical scope of its operations across the western and central sectors of southern Lebanon, targeting Israeli forces between Naqoura, Bayyada, Houla, Taybeh, Rashaf and Qouzah, extending to the vicinity of the Deir Seryan river and the newly established Blat military position.

According to the report, Hezbollah used anti-tank guided missiles, rocket salvos and both individual and swarm drone attacks against Israeli troops, Merkava tanks and military gatherings.

In Bayyada, Hezbollah reportedly struck a Merkava tank with a guided missile and targeted Israeli troops stationed inside homes using suicide drones. Near Naqoura port, swarms of drones reportedly attacked gatherings of Israeli soldiers in two separate waves.

Operations in the central sector reportedly included drone strikes targeting an Israeli soldier and a Merkava tank near Houla and Khirbet al-Manara, while repeated attacks using what the group described as "appropriate weapons" targeted tanks in Taybeh.

Al Akhbar said the operations reflected a combat strategy combining precision strikes, drone warfare and simultaneous pressure on multiple fronts at once.

The newspaper also noted growing Israeli concern over the psychological and operational impact of Hezbollah's drone campaign, citing Israeli media reports of "dozens of security incidents" affecting military bases and northern border areas within a single day, many of them subject to military censorship.

Israeli analysts and military officials quoted in the report acknowledged that Hezbollah had imposed a war of daily attrition affecting both military forces and settlers in northern Israel.

One resident of the northern settlement of Kiryat Shmona described the situation as "forced coexistence with reality", saying drones were now "knocking on doors", in reference to the growing sense that the threat had moved beyond military frontlines into daily civilian life.

The reports come as the Israeli military expands its own drone warfare capabilities in response to Hezbollah's growing use of explosive first-person-view (FPV) drones.

Israeli Army Radio reported on Tuesday that the military had decided to establish a factory producing thousands of suicide drones each month, staffed in part by ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers.

The station said the facility would manufacture relatively low-cost FPV drones for both offensive and defensive use across multiple battlefronts.

Until now, the Israeli military had reportedly purchased such drones from a private Israeli company whose products are partly manufactured in China. The new plan aims to fully localise production under the Israeli army's Technology and Logistics Directorate.

Around 200 ultra-Orthodox soldiers are expected to work at the facility after undergoing technical training, with the first intake due to begin in June.

Israeli military officials estimate the factory could begin supplying the army with thousands of drones per month within two months, eventually scaling up production to tens of thousands monthly.