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Hezbollah has launched a new weapon against northern Israel in the latest round of fighting: small drones controlled with fiber-optic cables the width of dental floss that avoid electronic detection.

These drones – widely used during the war in Ukraine – are small, difficult to track and potentially deadly.

Many drones are susceptible to electronic jamming from air defenses. Jamming can cause a drone to crash or return to its point of origin. But fiber optic drones cannot be controlled remotely. They have a thin cable that connects an operator directly to the drone, making electronic jamming impossible.

Drones are not foolproof because wind – or other drones – can cause cables to get tangled.

But “if you know what you’re doing, it’s absolutely deadly,” said Robert Tollast, a drone expert and researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, explaining how the drone can fly low and sneak up on a target.

Experts say the military must either intercept the drones, which is difficult because of their small size and short flight path, or find a way to cut the nearly invisible cable.

Hezbollah – the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon – primarily uses fiber-optic drones on Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon or border towns.

Hezbollah appears to have turned to the new type of drones because Israeli air defenses have successfully countered larger, more powerful rockets, missiles and other drones, an Israeli military official told the AP. He spoke on condition of anonymity, in accordance with military directives.

Israel believes the drones are locally made and are easy to produce – requiring little more than a commercially available drone, a small amount of explosives and transparent wire readily available on the consumer market, he said.

He called drones the biggest threat to troops in Lebanon, but said the Israeli military was working on technological solutions. Meanwhile, Israel is taking measures on the ground to defend its troops, such as adding nets and cages to military vehicles.