Israel strikes Iranian troops in Syria.

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Reuters.

Israel bombed Iranian targets in Syria saying that the troops were getting ready to launch "killer drone" attacks. Reuters. The Israelis claimed that the Iranian Quds Force were readying an attack on Israel in a few days. The drones were small and loaded with explosives and were designed to slam into targets. Israel also released video of the drones as well and warned Iran that their forces could be confronted anywhere. Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a threat to Syria saying that countries that allows attacks to be staged from their territory will face consequences. 

My Comment:

A quick post on a very slow news day. I usually don't comment on Israel for obvious reasons but I thought this was fairly interesting. These strikes aren't unusual but the description of the drones is new to me. 

The Israeli government is calling these drones "killer drones" which seems kind of redundant. I mean, most military drones are killers in one way or another. I think a better description of them would be kamikaze drones as they are designed to slam into targets. 

Of course that begs the question, how are these different than normal missiles? I mean these are presumably powered by propellers but still, there doesn't seem to be that much difference between a laser guided bomb and a drone packed with explosives. I would assume that they would need someone on the ground directing them and wouldn't move as fast as a more conventional missile but still, it's not that different. 

It does go to show how important drones are in modern military conflicts. If a force like the Quds group can use these drones pretty much any group can. Though the Quds Force has state backing, it's not hard to buy a drone and pack it with explosives. ISIS pioneered that tactic and used it with some success in Syria. If they hadn't been defeated shortly after they probably would have launched terror attacks with drones on international targets. 

As for Israel and Iran, I don't think this incident is all that revealing. They have done this dance before, even with Iran using drones. Iran is using Syria as a staging area to strike Israel and Israel is responding by bombing targets in the country. The fact that Iran is using drones is pretty irrelevant, other than the odd nature of those drones.