Cheap drones are giving Hezbollah an edge against Israel's military, which is bad for Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and could make future invasions riskier worldwide.

• Hezbollah is using $200–$300 drones to destroy Israeli Merkava tanks that cost $6 million each.
• The drones use a fiber-optic cable link, so they can't be jammed, and they fly so slowly that Israeli radar struggles to spot them.
• They're built locally with 3D printing and ordinary civilian parts, a workaround after Hezbollah's supply line through Syria collapsed when Assad fell.
• At least 36 Israeli soldiers have been killed on the northern front recently, over 50 since fighting resumed; Lebanon's death toll is far higher, with more than 4,000 killed since early March.
• The same cheap-drone tactic is being used by Ukraine against Russia, hinting that small, expendable weapons may make any large invasion more costly.

Outlook: Expect drones to keep raising the price of occupation, possibly making aggressors hesitate before launching ground invasions.