Hezbollah has long been aware of Israel's military advancements, particularly the use of artificial intelligence against its adversaries in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other regions. Modern warfare increasingly relies on technological innovations, enabling new combat techniques that seemed like science fiction a few decades ago. To achieve success in combat, it is essential to maintain ambiguous intentions, strike the enemy unexpectedly, and disrupt its electronic devices and surveillance equipment as much as possible before attacks. Israel has established intelligence units that are continuously updated with the latest artificial intelligence technologies to enhance its fight against enemies. Initially, Hezbollah was unprepared to face Israel's advanced warfare but managed to adapt, reduce its losses, and create a balanced deterrent against Tel Aviv's reliance on technology and artificial intelligence, as reported by Al-Rai.
Since October 7, 2023, Hezbollah and Palestinian resistance forces have been confronting Israeli artificial intelligence on the ground, with its impact, resulting in a heavy human cost, forcing them to adapt and develop countermeasures. After eight months of daily engagement with Israeli artificial intelligence, Hezbollah has achieved relative adaptation. For over a decade, armies worldwide, including Israel, have integrated artificial intelligence into their operations. This intelligence helps process vast amounts of intelligence data from various sources, such as mobile phone messages, satellite images, drone footage, voice recognition, and seismic sensors. One of the prominent Israeli artificial intelligence programs, "Gospel," can suggest around 200 targets within 10 to 12 days, significantly accelerating the targeting process by at least 50 times. Since October 7, the Israeli army has struck over 22,000 targets within Gaza, using artificial intelligence to enhance targeting accuracy and efficiency. However, reliance on this intelligence can increase the risk of misidentification, as analysts may feel pressured to accept AI-generated recommendations without thorough verification, potentially creating new operational challenges. In Gaza, the impunity of Israeli forces has led to numerous mistakes, often disregarding the value of Palestinian civilian lives.
**Adaptation and Countermeasures**
In the early months of the war, Hezbollah modified its deployment strategy along the border and reorganized its special forces units to better align with modern warfare objectives. It selectively deployed units to fit daily engagements, minimizing human losses, and enhanced its reconnaissance units to monitor Israeli ground and aerial movements. This adjustment enabled it to track and document the deployment of new Israeli units and pinpoint the patterns of UAV and Israeli air force patrols over Lebanon. The party launched over 4,500 laser-guided rockets (2,000 operations) and UAVs against Israeli targets, causing significant damage to border villages, settlements, and military installations. These attacks severely weakened Israel's reliance on artificial intelligence to manage the battlefield.
Hezbollah systematically destroyed many electronic surveillance systems along the 110-kilometer border, including early warning systems located up to 25 kilometers inside Israeli-controlled territory. This comprehensive electronic warfare rendered the Iron Dome system nearly ineffective and blinded Israeli electronic surveillance capabilities effectively but not permanently. As a result, Israel's use of artificial intelligence for real-time battlefield updates has been significantly weakened. In response, Tel Aviv deployed UAVs to update its target list, revealing these assets to Hezbollah's air defense systems. This tactical shift led to the downing of seven advanced UAVs, including Hermes 450, Hermes 900, and SkyLark 3, highlighting the growing vulnerability of Israeli aerial reconnaissance.
To expose deficiencies in artificial intelligence capabilities and minimize human casualties, Hezbollah deployed 250-kilogram explosive Burkan rockets and 152 mm howitzer artillery, successfully evading the latest Israeli reconnaissance technologies. However, the battle continues as both sides seek sophisticated means and counter-tools for a prolonged confrontation with no clear end in sight. It is a war of minds and technology, an intelligence struggle, and an adaptation toward a life less reliant on technology to avoid easy target detection by the enemy, which is not easy in a developed world that depends on technology for everything, according to Al-Rai.
