277th day of the Israel-Hamas war: What is happening in Gaza and Lebanon?

The Lebanese Hezbollah released a nearly ten-minute video on Tuesday showing footage of 17 military sites in the Golan Heights that it said was taken by the armed group’s surveillance aircraft.

The video is the second in a series aimed at showing the extent to which Hezbollah’s surveillance of Israel has gone, as tensions rise over Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and frequent exchanges of fire across Lebanon’s border with Israel.

The Iran-aligned group released a nine-minute video in June that it said was surveillance footage from locations in Israel, including the airport and seaports in the city of Haifa.

“The release of this video sends a clear message to the enemy and his army,” said Muhammad Afif, Hezbollah spokesman.

“The importance is to demonstrate our technical and technological capabilities in the field of surveillance and to obtain the necessary information we need in times of war,” Afif added.

Hezbollah mocks Israel

Lebanese pro-Iranian television station Al Mayadeen said in June, after the first video was released, that unmanned aircraft had bypassed Israeli defense systems and returned to Lebanon without being detected or shot down.

Hezbollah has sent both surveillance and attack drones into Israel since the war between Israel and Hamas began last October, saying the drone launches were a sign of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has been escalating for months and is raising fears of a full-scale war. Both sides say they want to prevent this. Diplomats are working to prevent it.

The United States and France are working on a negotiated solution to the hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

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