Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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In response to the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Tehran has unleashed more than 1,500 drones on countries across the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. But as the drone threat grows, so too do the region’s defences against these threats. As a result, it’s more than possible
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Over the last decade Iran has built up an impressive arsenal of kamikaze drones which can slam into targets more than 2,000 km away. Iran thought that in war it would be able to use these drones for massed attacks, and when Israel attacked Iran in the early hours of June 13, Tehran duly responded
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‘The US will take over the Gaza Strip – and we will do a job with it, too’, Donald Trump has said. He also stated that the US would ‘own’ it. Some aspects of his proposal make sense. For instance, he said that an increased US role would involve dismantling unexploded bombs and clearing out
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The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a clash with Israeli troops could help transform Israel’s war efforts against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It has been a difficult year for Israel fighting this long war. Both groups have been aided by the Iranian regime, which has supplied them with weapons and
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Israel’s fight against Hamas has been compared to the war against Isis between 2015 and 2019. That war was largely waged in Iraq and Syria, and one of the most important battles was the struggle to retake Mosul from the Islamists in 2017. The city and its outlying areas were home to two million people
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Joe Biden appears to be pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. ‘My hope is that by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,’ the US president said yesterday. Hamas has said the comments are ‘premature’ and Israeli sources have reportedly said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised by Biden’s remarks. Pressure for a ceasefire would benefit
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Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas – which has allowed for the release of dozens of hostages – looks set to continue. But make no mistake: this war is far from over. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, a mission that he will not back down from any time soon. The fight against
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As Israeli forces continue to push into Gaza they face threats from Hamas terrorists who use a network of tunnels under the strip. This is referred to by Israel as a ‘metro’. The tunnel network is extensive and exists under civilian homes and streets. In the brief ten-day war between Israel and Hamas in May
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Hamas’s attack was designed to massacre as many civilians as possible, while also striking at Israeli military posts along the Gaza border. Hamas knew that 7 October was going to be the biggest attack in its history, even if it didn’t know that it would be able to lay waste to 20 border communities, causing
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Israelis awoke to sirens on Saturday. They began after six in the morning on the border of Gaza as Hamas began to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli towns and cities. By eight o’clock the rocket fire had reached Jerusalem. By the evening the full extent of the massive attack had become clear. Over 5,000
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The West is struggling to confront the modern military technologies of Russia, Iran and China. A year and a half of the war in Ukraine has proved it. Iran has exported cheap Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to Russia, and they have been used to terrorise Ukrainians. Putin appears ready to invest further in procuring thousands more. Sir Tony
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In mid-May, Saudi Arabia welcomed Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad to the Kingdom ahead of an important meeting of the Arab League. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky was also welcomed and invited to the League meeting. The two leaders visiting the country at the same time symbolise Saudi Arabia’s increased role in regional and global diplomacy. Helping to bring
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As Ukraine prepares for an expected offensive in the spring or summer, key weapons from western countries are bolstering the country’s armed forces. Among the war machines that are expected to make a major impact on the battlefield are Leopard Tanks and other armoured vehicles from the West. What isn’t getting many headlines today are drones for Ukraine. This is
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We’re finishing the year by republishing our ten most popular articles from 2022. Here’s number six: Seth J. Frantzman’s piece from March about how Ukraine’s use of drones changed the war against Russia. The Ukrainian airforce has so far held out in the battle for the skies. Russia continues to rely on missiles for deep
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The Ukrainian airforce has so far held out in the battle for the skies. Russia continues to rely on missiles for deep strikes into Ukrainian territory while the defenders have been able to contest the airspace by employing drones. Ukraine has proven a turning point in the age of drone warfare. The first great drone
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Israel has been working closely with other countries and international companies, developing and producing vaccines against Covid-19. At the same time, the Middle Eastern country is rapidly improving relations with its Gulf neighbours, the latest evidence being the appointment of a new UAE ambassador to Israel. A major shift has taken place in Israel — 20 years
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In early February I received my green-coloured vaccine certification for having two jabs in Jerusalem. Now Israel is rolling out a ‘green passport’ that should enable the vaccinated to return to semi-normal life. This could lead to freedom to travel and even entrance to places like gyms and shopping centres, while the unvaccinated will have
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On a cold night three days before the end of the 2020 I drove down to Jerusalem’s Pais Arena. The area is usually a sports venue, next to Jerusalem’s stadium and mall, but in December it was transformed into a centre for mass vaccinations, open from morning till ten in the evening. By the first
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Ain Qana is a pretty pastoral village perched on a hillside in southern Lebanon. On 22 September a large explosion destroyed a building on the edge of the village. It was about 12 miles from the Israeli border. Reports indicated it was a munitions storage linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group. Hezbollah is
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The monumental accords being signed in Washington between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain represent a new era in Israeli peacemaking. These agreements are being signed with Gulf states and they are a result of shared interests. At the top of the list of Israeli concerns is the Iranian threat. But Turkey’s increasingly aggressive stance in
