Drones become Hezbollah's primary weapon against Israel
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
Hello, I'm Ankur Desai, and in the early hours of Friday, the 29th of May, these are our main stories. As Israel intensifies attacks in Lebanon, we have a special report on how Hezbollah is responding with a new drone threat of its own. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's ordered the military to further increase its occupation of the Gaza Strip, contradicting the terms of the ceasefire deal. The United Nations has added Israel and Russia to its blacklist on sexual violence in conflict.
How are Hezbollah's drones changing the conflict with Israel?
Also in this podcast, an Austrian court has handed a 15-year jail sentence to a man who planned a jihadist attack at a Taylor Swift concert. And the heatwave across Europe affects the French Open.
You heard a tennis player today saying he was dizzy. That's one of the symptoms of heat stress or heat illness.
Yannick Sinner suffers a shock defeat after feeling unwell on court. We begin in Lebanon, where leaders there have sharply criticised deadly Israeli attacks near UNESCO-protected historic landmarks. The Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, said nothing could justify ongoing strikes on the Tyre and Nabatea regions and the destruction of their landmarks. He said Israel orders for residents to evacuate swathes of southern Lebanon amounted to a collective punishment condemned by all international norms and laws. Israel has intensified attacks on Lebanon in recent days and has also hit the capital Beirut, saying it's targeting Hezbollah. But the Iran-backed group is fighting back. It's developed a new drone that has become the main threat faced by Israel's soldiers in southern Lebanon and on civilians in northern Israel.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson has been to the Israeli border community of Shomera. And a brief warning, this piece begins with air raid warning sounds. Minutes after arriving in Israel's border town of Shomerah, a warning. Explosive fiber-optic drones, the newest threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon. It's close to the border. The warnings and the weapons come seconds apart. In the field? All the time. And all Israel's firepower. It's occupation of Lebanon. Can't stop them. We've just ducked inside the bomb shelter here in Shomera because we've had three separate alerts. This community has been the target of Hezbollah drones over and over again. From the entrance to the shelter, we scan the sky, but there's no sign of a drone.
Israel's army later told us it lost contact with it, but that an Israeli soldier was killed in a separate drone attack outside Shomera an hour earlier.
Outside, near a bus stop hit by a drone this week, Shomera's council chief, Sami Zanetti, told me there was sometimes no warning at all.
The problem is you don't feel them coming, he said. You're sitting there and suddenly it arrives. And if you run, it follows you. The day before we arrived, Shomera's security team were chased by a drone, firing at it right above the house of Amichai Ben David, a peach farmer with seven children, whose roof already has a large hole from a Hezbollah rocket attack last year.
It came and we rushed into the house. The soldiers who were here outside shot at it and managed to knock it out of the air and saved us, thank God. The missile stopped because of the ceasefire and drones started coming instead.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel's artillery still fire across the border.
What actions has Israel taken in the Gaza Strip recently?
Its forces still occupy large areas of southern Lebanon, and its prime minister this week vowed to deal Hezbollah a crushing blow. But none of it stops the small, low-flying fiber-optic drones. Israel's military has been criticized for not learning from Ukrainian forces. facing the same threat for two years. On a visit to the northern border today, Israel's military spokesman, Efi Deferin, addressed the threat.
We are constantly formulating responses to the drone threat. The best minds in the IDF and outside it are working tirelessly. There are no limits on the use of strength and resources when it comes to the security of our troops and our civilians.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:28
2
How are Hezbollah's drones changing the conflict with Israel?
1:28–4:50
3
What actions has Israel taken in the Gaza Strip recently?
4:50–8:29
4
What is the significance of the UN's blacklist on sexual violence?
8:29–9:09
5
What was the outcome of the jihadist attack plot on a Taylor Swift concert?
9:09–10:17
6
How has the European heatwave impacted the French Open?
10:17–27:14
Speakers
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