Under the relentless strain of Islamic Resistance drones, the Israeli military establishment is trapped in a new tactical and operational quagmire in southern Lebanon, according to Al Mayadeen's Israeli Affairs Department.
The damage is no longer limited to troop attrition; it has now decapitated the command echelon of one of the Israeli occupation forces’ premier elite units: the Givati Infantry Brigade (Brigade 84).
In the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, located in the eastern sector near the Litani River, Lebanese terrain has transformed into a killing field for soldiers and battalion commanders.
This reality has forced a fundamental shift in the course of the Israeli incursion into Lebanon and compelled the General Staff to revise its tactics and withdraw entire formations from the field.
Even in its most advertised "achievement" of taking over the al-Shaqif Fortress (Beaufort Castle), Islamic Resistance footage using a thermal-vision-equipped drone showed no Israeli presence in the fortress at night.
Brigade 84 currently operates under the command of the 36th Division, which leads the primary offensive effort in the eastern sector. According to Israeli official data, since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in 2023, Givati has lost 73 officers and soldiers, including three killed in just the past week in southern Lebanon, alongside hundreds wounded to varying degrees. Notably, the full combat strength of a regular infantry brigade hovers around 2,000 troops.
Givati consists of four main battalions:
Within a single week, in the same geographical pocket, the brigade suffered two successive strikes that removed half of its effective field leadership from combat.
What transpired in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah is not an isolated event. It follows a pattern of similar operations witnessed across the southern Lebanese front.
In the town of Debl, in the western sector, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade was directly struck by a drone. This incident was particularly striking because the brigade commander had declared before entering battle that he possessed “surprises” regarding drone warfare that his unit had brought along. Instead, it was the Resistance’s drones that surprised him, removing him from the operational map.
These facts confirm that drones are no longer a mere tactical nuisance but have evolved into an effective instrument for targeting field leadership and paralyzing command capabilities.
This assessment does not overlook the incident cleared for publication yesterday: the targeting of the vehicle of Northern Command chief Rafi Milo after he dismounted from it in southern Lebanon, an event described inside "Israel" as a strategic and psychological victory for Hezbollah.
Faced with mounting human and command attrition, indicators are emerging of a crisis regarding the ability of Israeli elite brigades to sustain prolonged offensive operations.
This has manifested in a series of notable field decisions:
The battle of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah has underscored a critical shift on the southern Lebanese battlefield: technological superiority and overwhelming firepower are no longer enough to guarantee the protection of Israeli field commanders. Within days, half of the Givati Brigade’s battalion commanders were taken out of combat, highlighting the Resistance’s evolving ability to identify, track, and precisely target leadership elements. The losses point to a growing challenge for Israeli forces, as command positions increasingly become vulnerable despite advanced surveillance, intelligence, and force-protection capabilities.
While losing soldiers is considered part of the cost of war, targeting field commanders carries a compound effect that extends beyond direct human loss, striking at the very systems of command and control and battle management.