Hezbollah fired two Burkan short-range ballistic missile at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel on Saturday. The IDF reported that the attack damaged an IDF base in the Kiryat Shemona area. Watch the exclusive footage of the unexploded missile:
Hezbollah Burkan missile
Burkan is not a precision missile but has proven itself to be effective in terms of both physical damage and psychological damage. It is capable of carrying up to half a ton of explosive material. Hezbollah developed the Burkan with Iranian guidance, at the start of the Syrian Civil War in the previous decade, to aid Assad's forces. Once operational, it was also diverted for use against Israel, primarily from hidden launchers operated remotely.
Hamas attempted to imitate Hezbollah's development with a similar rocket but mostly without success. Unlike the Lebanese version, the heavy rockets from Gaza exploded before crossing the border. Hamas was successful only once with this rocket when it hit a greenhouse in Kibbutz Nahal Oz a few years ago without any casualties.
"Hezbollah has used only five percent of its arsenal in recent months, as a testing ground against the IDF for a real and large-scale war," said IDF sources. "Every day they try to circumvent the air defense systems and learn with different firing angles, concentrated launch quantities, varying amounts of explosive material in each rocket launched, and other elements. Thus, despite the relatively limited scope of firing compared to the quantities at their disposal, they also achieve successful precision strikes. We are learning to battle and improve our ability to deal with the Burkan threat."
"So far, dozens of Burkan rockets have been used, mainly targeting communities and border outposts. They cause significant damage to homes, can hit outposts and destroy them, and with direct hits, they can penetrate IDF structures," another IDF source said.
Burkan missile hits IDF base in Kiryat Shemona
The IDF has also gathered and examined another heavy threat from Hezbollah: large drones capable of carrying warheads weighing 20-30 kilograms of explosive material. A machine gunner identified the drone approaching soldiers and shot it down moments before it exploded on his comrades.
The gunner's fire activated the explosive material in the warhead at the center of the drone, causing a large explosion in the air and igniting parts of the drone without wounding the soldiers. Alongside the warhead, the IDF discovered an enormous amount of explosives meant to shoot between ten to fifteen thousand deadly pieces of shrapnel.
Following Hezbollah's launches at northern Israel, the IDF's response to the threat was the rapid evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians within firing range. The IDF targeted dozens of Hezbollah ammunition depots, eliminated operatives, and improved interception capabilities over the past months. From October 7 until now, the IDF has killed over 300 Hezbollah operatives, most of whom were involved in firing rockets toward Israel, and some were eliminated before executing their plans.