PNN – The experience of recent conflicts shows that the occupying Israeli army faces serious limitations in its ground advance on Lebanese soil.
In contrast, the regime’s focus on constant surveillance and intelligent processing of field data through reconnaissance drones represents a shift in the balance of military tools from the ground to remote technologies in the sky.
The widespread and low-altitude flights of the Israeli regime’s reconnaissance drones over Beirut, the southern suburbs, and the routes leading to the Bekaa and southern Lebanon are not considered by analysts to be merely a violation of the country’s sovereignty, but rather part of the process of feeding artificial intelligence systems live to create an updated and ready-to-attack “target bank.”
On the other hand, media outlets such as Yedioth Ahronoth have reported that the elite units of the occupying Israeli army have faced serious problems in recent ground battles.
Retired General Isaac Brake has also criticized the erosion of infantry capabilities and overreliance on air power, which has led to an increased reliance on technological tools and remote operations.
According to Haaretz reports, drones are now not just imaging tools, but act as “flying servers” that transmit field data to artificial intelligence systems.
By combining 3D imagery, traffic data, and telecommunications information, these systems identify potential targets and convert them into “attack-ready files,” a process that can increase the risk of misidentifying civilian activities with military movements in densely populated urban areas.
At the same time, some research centers, including the Israeli Institute for Internal Security Studies (INSS), have spoken of focusing on economic and infrastructural pressure as part of a strategy to influence the social environment in Lebanon.
Within this framework, monitoring the service cycle, transportation routes, and financial activities could also lead to the formation of an “economic goals bank.”
It is worth noting that in the Israeli military doctrine, completing the target bank and reducing the time interval between identification and attack is considered an indicator of operational readiness.
Political analysts believe that the increase in reconnaissance flights, along with the increase in the level of alert, could be a sign of an effort to shorten the “targeting cycle” in Lebanon.
Field comparison also shows that in the 33-day war of 2006, the occupying Israeli army advanced to a depth of 10 to 15 kilometers into Lebanese territory, but in the conflicts of 2024, the depth of penetration was mainly limited to one to three kilometers, and attempts to advance further were accompanied by retreat.