Zamir tells defense officials to spare no expense in combating Hezbollah drone threat – report

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir convened a high-level discussion yesterday with defense and intelligence officials on the growing threat posed by Hezbollah first-person view (FPV) drones, with no complete operational solution to the threat having been found yet, Channel 12 reports.

According to the report, Zamir told representatives from the Defense Ministry, the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (MAFAT), the Military Intelligence Directorate, IDF Ground Forces Command, and other technological units that there were no budgetary limitations on efforts to find solutions.

In recent weeks, troops operating near the Lebanese border have come under near-daily attacks from Hezbollah’s explosive drones that have killed and wounded soldiers. Yesterday, IDF reservist Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Glovanyov, 47, was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel.

A separate Channel 12 report notes that concerns over the drone threat were already being raised years ago. In March 2018, a discussion in a Knesset subcommittee for examining and regulating drone activity warned that commercially available drones could eventually fall into the hands of terror groups and be used against Israel.

“We are in an era where drones have become accessible, cheap, and easy to operate,” then-subcommittee chairman Haim Jelin reportedly said during the discussion.

“In Israel, we only deal with things after a disaster occurs,” Jelin warned then.