India steps up border drone defence to wade off surprise attacks like Hamas did on Israel

In a move to step up monitoring activities along the borders with neighbouring China and Pakistan, especially along the Himalayas, India is setting up a surveillance system with drones to avoid surprise attacks like the one from Hamas in Israel.

The country’s defence officials met with six home-grown vendors of surveillance and reconnaissance drones over the past week and an order is expected to be announced as soon as next month, Bloomberg quoted people who did not wish to be named as saying.

In the past, India has experienced unexpected surprise attacks. For instance, in 2008, assailants hailing from Pakistan, armed with assault weapons and grenades, managed to infiltrate Mumbai by sea and killed 166 people.

Meanwhile, South Korean and US troops have started live-fire exercises this week to hone their ability to respond to potential “Hamas-style surprise artillery attacks” by North Korea, South Korea’s military said Friday.

The two forces regularly conduct live fire and other training, but this week’s drills come after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel raised security jitters in South Korea, which shares the world’s most heavily fortified border with rival North Korea.

Experts say the North’s forward-deployed long-range artillery guns can fire about 16,000 rounds per hour in the event of a conflict, posing a serious threat to Seoul, which is about 40-50 kilometres (25-30 miles) from the border.

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The three-day firing exercises, which began Wednesday, involved 5,400 South Korean and U.S. soldiers, 300 artillery systems, 1,000 vehicles and air force assets, according to South Korea’s military.

In a simulated response to “the enemy’s (possible) Hamas-style surprise artillery attacks,” the exercises practised strikes designed to “remove the origins of the enemy’s long-range artillery provocations at an early date,” South Korea’s Ground Operations Command said in a statement.

North Korea didn’t immediately react to the drills. It typically views major U.S.-South Korean military training as invasion rehearsals and responds with missile tests.

Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes since the war began following a cross-border raid that killed 1,400 people in Israel and took over 200 others hostage. Palestinian health officials say over 7,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the fighting erupted.