TEHRAN – The Israeli regime has confirmed the death of another soldier as Hezbollah ramps up its resistance operations, intensifying pressure on occupation forces through increasingly sophisticated drone and battlefield attacks.

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced on Monday that a 47-year-old reserve master sergeant was killed after being struck by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah at a military site near the settlement of Manara in the northern Galilee Panhandle area.

According to the IOF, the soldier served as a driver in Transport Battalion 6924, part of the military’s Technology and Logistics Division. The statement said he was transporting heavy equipment to the military site when the attack occurred. The regime claimed that Hezbollah launched four explosive drones toward the position.

In a separate incident on Monday, three IOF soldiers were injured by a Hezbollah drone explosion.

This comes amid Hezbollah’s mounting use of first-person view (FPV) explosive drones in southern Lebanon, along the Lebanese border region, and northern settlements, with a sharp rise in IOF casualties over the past week. The fiber-optic drones are operated and guided manually from Hezbollah command bases.

Hezbollah’s media wing has released further footage showing several operations targeting IOF positions. In one video, two drones can be seen striking an Iron Dome launcher and its crew at the Jal al-Allam site along the Lebanese border.

Hebrew-language media acknowledged that an attack targeting an Iron Dome battery over the weekend severely damaged the reputation of the regime’s air defense system.

According to Maariv, the system failed to detect the one-way attack drone in advance and took no action to intercept it. The newspaper said the IOF attempted to conceal the incident, but Hezbollah later released video footage showing the drone penetrating the regime’s claimed airspace in the western sector and striking the battery responsible for protecting the western Galilee region.

The footage showed the drone operator considering whether to target missile launchers or nearby soldiers, who appeared unable to defend themselves.

The regime’s former prime minister Ehud Barak has described the battle on the northern front with Lebanon as a “failure” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Another video published by the Lebanese resistance’s media shows an operation targeting the Meron (Yaba 506) base responsible for aerial surveillance and air operations management, using a swarm of attack drones.

A third video shows another drone attack on a Merkava tank in the town of Rashaf in southern Lebanon, whilst a fourth reveals how a drone manages to target surveillance and monitoring equipment in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Bayyada.

The Hebrew-language Kan public broadcaster reported that the IOF is preparing to equip its forces in southern Lebanon with fragmentation munitions purchased from the U.S. to improve its ability to counter Hezbollah’s explosive drones.

Other Hebrew-language media outlets have also highlighted growing concern over Hezbollah’s drone operations. i24NEWS described the drones as the regime’s “nightmare,” pointing to increasing confusion and anxiety over the continued attacks.

Additionally, an IOF official acknowledged that the regime “has returned to a reality of mutual deterrence with Hezbollah,” according to the Hebrew-language Channel 12.

The channel reported that Hezbollah continues to carry out regular attacks, while IOF soldiers face dozens of explosive drones launched toward them every day, resulting in casualties. It added that, for now, the confrontation remains mostly limited to the regime’s military forces. 

The channel acknowledged Hezbollah’s primary targets are currently IOF positions, while settlers appear to be experiencing something resembling a “ceasefire”. The same cannot be said about Lebanese civilians, with more children and the elderly killed by IOF airstrikes on Monday. 

However, local council leaders in northern settlements reportedly fear that this situation could change at any moment. They have warned that Hezbollah still possesses the capability to launch drones capable of reaching areas deep inside the regime’s claimed territory, even with the IOF operating several kilometers inside Lebanese territory.

The report added that residents of northern settlements see no clear plan for the next phase and feel they are being asked to live under a strange ceasefire marked by constant tension and ongoing fire exchanges.

Local officials have reportedly attempted to contact the regime’s war minister to understand the direction of events, but have so far received no response.

Maariv added that Hezbollah has recently intensified attacks on advanced military targets. One cited example was a drone strike on an “Alpha” truck belonging to an artillery battery near Shomera, which caused dozens of shells to explode and wounded 12 soldiers.

Hezbollah’s media published more footage on Monday documenting drone attacks on strategic IOF sites and troop gatherings, reinforcing its steadfast resistance, while Hebrew-language media continue to acknowledge failures in detecting or intercepting the drones.

Hezbollah has continued its military operations against the IOF in southern Lebanon and northern settlements. The Lebanese resistance stated that it struck IOF D9 bulldozers in both Bint Jbeil and Deir Siryan using drones and achieved direct hits in both attacks.

In Khallat Raj near Deir Siryan, Hezbollah also shelled IOF troop gatherings and military vehicles with artillery fire. According to a Hezbollah statement, the IOF later deployed reinforcements under heavy smoke cover to evacuate casualties.

Additional artillery strikes targeted IOF troop concentrations near the municipality of Khiam, while another drone attack struck an IOF military command center in the town.

The resistance movement also announced a guided missile strike on IOF soldiers in the town of Rashaf.

Hezbollah said these operations were conducted in response to the Israeli regime’s violations of the ceasefire and attacks on villages in southern Lebanon that killed and wounded civilians.

The regime’s military experts acknowledge that the IOF has failed to achieve any of its objectives and that the regime’s current situation is worse than it was at the beginning of the war.