Overnight, Hezbollah's armed forces suddenly woke up and destroyed 21 Israeli tanks: it was all because of this!
According to multiple media reports, including from the U.S. magazine *Military Observer*, Hezbollah has created the heaviest single-day loss in Israel’s armored forces in over 40 years. The Lebanese Hezbollah fighters seemingly "woke up" and launched what can be described as a textbook-style ambush in southern Lebanon, destroying 21 Israeli "Merkava" main battle tanks in one strike.
In past conflicts, whether against Hamas or Hezbollah, destroying Israeli tanks usually required soldiers to take enormous risks by closing in closely—using handheld rocket launchers or even placing explosives directly on the tanks. This method was jokingly referred to as “anti-tank gymnastics,” with low success rates and extremely high costs.
However, in this case along the Taibeh-Kantara axis in southern Lebanon, the situation underwent a fundamental change. Hezbollah no longer relied on such primitive tactics but instead meticulously planned a modern ambush. They first monitored Israeli reconnaissance operations, deliberately allowing a remote-controlled D9 bulldozer to pass through, aiming to lure the main Israeli armored column into a pre-emptively set “kill zone.”
On the afternoon of March 26th, when an Israeli armored convoy composed of Merkava tanks and D9 bulldozers advanced in single file into the ambush zone, Hezbollah launched a deadly counterattack.
They first targeted the center of the convoy with precision-guided weapons, instantly destroying five heavy vehicles—including four tanks and one bulldozer—and successfully splitting the entire armored column in half.
When the front vehicles attempted a forced breakthrough and the rear vehicles tried to deploy smoke screens for cover and retreat, they were met with sustained attacks from multiple directions, leaving them completely immobilized. This strategy of “surrounding the target and attacking reinforcements,” followed by segmenting and annihilating enemy units, demonstrated exceptional tactical proficiency.
The key to achieving such a spectacular outcome lies in a “new weapon” in Hezbollah’s arsenal—the FPV (First-Person View) suicide drone.
These drones are low-cost, compact, highly maneuverable, and allow operators to control their flight path in real time via live video feed from the drone’s camera, enabling them to precisely crash into targets like playing a video game. In the Ukraine conflict, this type of weapon has already proven to be a nightmare for tanks.
Evidently, Hezbollah has drawn lessons from this experience. Using FPV drones, they easily bypassed the Merkava tanks’ famed “Trophy” active protection system, directly targeting their most vulnerable spots—such as the top hull and engine compartment—achieving highly effective “opening the can” strikes.
As blade-guy points out, in the coming period, low-cost, high-efficiency weapons like drones will play an increasingly crucial role in regional conflicts. For weaker nations and smaller states, this represents a powerful asymmetric warfare tool.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860871670109376/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.