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As the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon continues to loom large over U.S.-Iran peace talks, one issue in particular has emerged as a driving force behind the fight—the militant group’s use of explosive first-person-view (FPV) drones against Israeli forces.

Drawing lessons from the devastating use of FPV drones in the Russia-Ukraine war, Hezbollah has used these weapons to inflict serious damage and casualties on the Israeli military, which has been scrambling to find an effective response.

As the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon continues to loom large over U.S.-Iran peace talks, one issue in particular has emerged as a driving force behind the fight—the militant group’s use of explosive first-person-view (FPV) drones against Israeli forces.

Drawing lessons from the devastating use of FPV drones in the Russia-Ukraine war, Hezbollah has used these weapons to inflict serious damage and casualties on the Israeli military, which has been scrambling to find an effective response.

The drones are a “gold mine” for the Iran-backed militant group, said an Israeli military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue. “They have a cheap weapon [that is] not very hard to operate and [is] deadly to the other side. And the other side so far hasn’t been able to find a solution to it. Therefore they can keep using it, and our defense will be mostly reactive to it, using nets or shotguns or shelters. As long as we don’t have a solution, they will continue to use those FPV drones,” the official added.

Israel has pointed to Hezbollah’s drones as one of the key reasons that Israeli forces moved farther into Lebanon and are continuing to conduct operations and strikes in the country. “Because of drones launched against us, we had to move the yellow line,” the official said, referring to the boundary that marks the buffer zone that Israel has established in southern Lebanon. “We’ll always have to retaliate against those types of threats against us.”

People are seen at the beach against the backdrop of smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 27.Kawant Haju/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration is working to keep the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah from upending the peace process with Iran. Tehran has been adamant that any agreements with Washington include a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon. But neither Israel nor Hezbollah is party to the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June, and they have continued to fight—even after Israel and Lebanon announced a cease-fire on April 16 and Israel and Hezbollah a truce on June 19.

Between April 17 and June 20, Hezbollah conducted 1,163 attacks on Israel and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops; 637 of them involved drones, accounting for nearly 55 percent of all attacks during that period, according to Alma, an Israeli research center specializing in security threats in northern Israel.

The drone threat is among the reasons that the Israeli public is pushing its government to ignore calls from Washington to de-escalate and to instead ramp up the fight. Israelis in the north of the country near the border with Lebanon, who have borne the brunt of Hezbollah’s attacks, are especially concerned about this.

Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of Alma, lost a........

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