An unprecedented discovery sheds light on the Roman occupation of Judea, writes Ilan Ben-Zion:

The remains of an imperial Roman legionary camp—the only one of its kind ever to be excavated in Israel or in the entirety of the eastern [Roman] empire from the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE—have come to light at a dig near Megiddo. . . .

Legio, a Roman site situated next to Tel Megiddo in northern Israel, served as the headquarters of the Sixth Legion Ferrata—the Ironclad—in the years following the Jewish revolt, and helped keep order in the Galilee during the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132-135 CE. . . .

In the century following the Jewish revolt in 66-70 CE, Rome garrisoned two imperial legions in Palestine to keep order, one in Jerusalem and a second in the Galilee. Until recently, the location of the . . . permanent military camp housing the Sixth Legion was uncertain. . . .

“In the aftermath of the first revolt, you had the beginnings of a lot of emigration of the Jewish population of Judea northward,” [the excavation’s co-director Matthew] Adams explained. “The Galilee was increasingly the center of Jewish activity.” In light of the bloody 1st-century revolt which took Rome four years to crush, “probably one of the reasons that they brought the legion here at all was to garrison this unruly population,” Adams said.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.