Hezbollah Drone Flies Undetected Over Israel, Captures High-Resolution Images of Military Installations

Hezbollah released a seven-minute video on October 9 showing high-resolution images taken by its Hudhud surveillance drone during an undetected flight over Haifa and Mount Carmel.

The Lebanese resistance movement's footage highlights Israeli military vulnerabilities, as the drone captured images of strategic military, industrial, and communication sites before safely returning to Lebanon.

The video showed the drone flying over various military and industrial areas, beginning with the Kiryat Nahum industrial zone and its nearby refinery and oil storage tanks. The Haifa refinery, which processes two-thirds of Israel's 15 million tons of oil, was among the key sites captured. Continuing southward, the drone passed over chemical and fertilizer manufacturing zones, including facilities for ICL Group, Novetide, Wiseman & Friedman, and Sterokem, and filmed the Nesher cement plant, Israel's largest cement supplier.

The southernmost point captured was a ministry of communications antenna atop Giv'at HaHagan, Mount Carmel's second-highest peak, which Hezbollah claims serves as a communications hub between the "northern command" and Tel Aviv's "ministry of war affairs."

The drone recorded the Mishmar military site along Road 672 in Mount Carmel National Park, near the Giv'at HaHagan mast. This base, recently built in a protected natural zone, is controversial due to its proximity to student dormitories, an archaeological site, and a religious area. Constructed on the remains of the Mishmar Carmel settlement, it protects Haifa and houses radars and Iron Dome missile platforms. Satellite imagery from 2024 shows all four platforms were recently built. The site, located in a fire-prone forest vulnerable to Hezbollah strikes, is just 300 meters from University of Haifa dorms. The base also lies within an archaeological site near the Road of the Millennia Museum and a sacred Druze oak grove.

After filming the Mishmar base, the drone captured the University of Haifa, neighborhoods like Denia and Ramat Alon, and the Grand Canyon Mall near the Carmel Tunnel, which doubles as a wartime shelter and hospital. It also filmed Bnai Zion Medical Center, which works closely with the Israeli military, and the Ze'ev and Kiryat Eliezer air bases. The footage ended with the Stella Maris base, a coastal surveillance site located near historic monasteries.

This is the fourth such operation by Hezbollah since spring 2024, raising concerns about the effectiveness of Israeli air defense systems and the positioning of key military sites near populated areas.

Hudhud drone

The Hezbollah-operated Hudhud drone is a reconnaissance UAV measuring 1.9 x 1.5 meters and has an operational radius of a few dozen kilometers, with a flight duration of approximately one and a half hours. Its primary function is aerial surveillance.

Limited information is available about the Hudhud drone, but experts speculate it may be similar to the Iranian Hudhud-1 UAV or the Shahed 101, used by Shiite militias in Iraq. The Shahed 101 features an electric motor, which reduces its thermal emission and radar cross-section.

Assuming the Hudhud drone launched from southern Lebanon near Hezbollah-controlled areas like the Litani River, about 35 kilometers from the Israeli border, its flight covered a considerable distance. The southernmost point in the footage, Giv'at HaHagan on Mount Carmel near Haifa, is approximately 60 to 65 kilometers from Lebanon’s southern border, around Naqoura. Thus, the drone's maximum distance from Lebanese territory during the flight would be around 60 to 65 kilometers.