Scattered throughout the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon are the remains of some 1,400 dogs, who appear to have died and been buried in the 4th or 5th century BCE, when Persia ruled the area. While the graves were discovered some 30 years ago, archaeologists have yet to find an explanation. Naama Barak writes:

“Once we got enough dogs to be able to look at them as a whole, we could start building a pattern of when they died, and start to see the mortality profile of the dogs,” [the archaeologist Daniel] Master explains. “One of the first observations is that these were street dogs. It doesn’t look like these were pets, because [if so] you wouldn’t have so many young dogs dying,” he notes.

“The second thing we noticed: there was no evidence they were cared for particularly in life,” he adds. “There’s no evidence that they were fed in life in a special way. We never found that they were buried with any accessories, something that shows that someone who did the burying cared for the animal. Every time a dog died, [someone] dug the pit, put the dog, in the pit and covered it over.”

Why were they buried? “We still don’t know whether there was a religious significance to this, whether it was simply a question of hygiene,” . . . says Master. There isn’t any evidence that they were diseased, he adds.

The Ashkelon dog graves are the largest such sample in the Levant, so the archeologists don’t even have anything to compare it to—the second-largest instance of this phenomenon numbers only 30 graves. So it’s small wonder that it has captured everyone’s imagination.

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.