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War Games: Hezbollah Says It Sent Drone Over Israel

Oct. 11, 2012 4:25pm
War Games: Hezbollah Says It Sent Drone Over Israel

Lebanese demonstrators torch three puppets representing the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (L), Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak (C) and Saudi King Abdallah (R) as they demonstrate in front of the Egyptian embassy in Beirut against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip on January 7, 2009. Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah whose Shiite militant party fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, warned today that 'all possibilities' were open against Israel as he gave a fiery speech in which he blasted the Jewish state's offensive in Gaza. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Hezbollah claimed responsibility Thursday for launching an Iranian-made drone aircraft into Israeli airspace earlier this week, adding more tension to an already explosive Mideast atmosphere.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned that it would not be the last such operation by his Lebanese militant group.

Israeli warplanes shot down the unmanned plane, but the infiltration marked a rare breach of Israel’s tightly guarded airspace. Hezbollah had been the leading suspect because of its arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft.

With a formidable arsenal that rivals that of the Lebanese army, Hezbollah is already under pressure in Lebanon from rivals who accuse it of putting Lebanon at risk of getting sucked into regional turmoil. Confirmation that Hezbollah was behind the drone could put the group under further strain internally as it pursues its longstanding conflict with Israel.

Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite group committed to Israel’s destruction, has long served as an Iranian proxy along Israel’s northern border. It is also seen as a close ally of the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Israel accuses the Assad government of allowing Iran to ferry weapons to Hezbollah through its territory.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a brutal monthlong war in mid-2006. Hundreds of people were killed, and Hezbollah fired several thousand rockets and missiles into Israel before the conflict ended in a stalemate.

Israel routinely sends F-16 fighter planes over Lebanon, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. The Israeli planes have often broken the sound barrier over Beirut and other places as a show of strength, most recently after the drone incident.

War Games: Hezbollah Says It Sent Drone Over Israel

In this Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012 file image made from video released by the Israeli Defense Forces shows the downing of a drone that entered Israeli airspace in southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. The leader of Hezbollah claimed responsibility Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 for launching the drone aircraft that entered Israeli airspace earlier this week, a rare and provocative move by the Lebanese militants at a time of soaring regional tensions. (Credit: AP)

War Games: Hezbollah Says It Sent Drone Over Israel

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah addresses thousands of supporters who took to the streets of southern Beirut to denounce a film mocking Islam on September 17, 2012. Nasrallah, who made a rare public appearance, has called for a week of protests across the country over the low-budget, US-made film, describing it as the 'worst attack ever on Islam. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

“This statement today is a claim of responsibility by the Islamic resistance for this qualitative operation” of dispatching the drone, Nasrallah said in a televised address late Thursday.

“Today we are uncovering a small part of our capabilities, and we shall keep many more hidden,” he said. “It is our natural right to send other reconnaissance flights inside occupied Palestine … This is not the first time and will not be the last. We can reach any place we want” in Israel, he said.

He said the aircraft was launched from Lebanese territory and flew “tens of kilometers” over sensitive Israeli installations before it was discovered and shot down by the Israeli air force near the Dimona nuclear reactor in Israel’s southern desert.

He dismissed an Israeli military statement that it began tracking the aircraft over the Mediterranean but waited until it was over an empty desert area to bring it down in order to avert casualties on the ground.

Nasrallah claimed the group had more surprises and would not hesitate to use them in any future war with Israel.

Launching the drone was a rare and provocative move by the Lebanese militants at a time of soaring regional tensions, with both Syria and Iran under intense international pressure.

Nasrallah said the aircraft was made in Iran and assembled by Hezbollah, adding that it was much more sophisticated than drones it sent before.

Hezbollah has attempted to send unmanned aircraft over Israel on several occasions, dating back to 2004. Nasrallah has claimed that the group’s drones were capable of carrying explosives and striking deep into Israel.

Israel has said the latest drone was not carrying explosives and appeared to be on a reconnaissance mission.

The last known attempt by Hezbollah to use a drone took place during the 2006 war, when Israel shot down an Iranian-made pilotless aircraft that entered its airspace.

Touring southern Israel on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised efforts to prevent land infiltrations from Egypt. He mentioned that Israel has been equally successful “in the air, just like we thwarted the Hezbollah attempt last weekend,” his first public statement blaming Hezbollah.

Hezbollah was formed to oppose Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon in the 1980s, and the two sides have a bitter history.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of assassinating a top Hezbollah operative in 2008 in Syria. The group and Lebanese officials say they have broken up several Israeli spy rings inside Lebanon over the past few years.

Israel charges that Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, was behind a string of attempted attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India, Thailand and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, plus a deadly bombing this year that killed five Israeli tourists in a Bulgarian resort.

Last week, Israel announced the arrest of an Arab citizen it accused of spying for Hezbollah, the latest in a string of such cases.

Nasrallah also denied reports that Hezbollah members were fighting alongside Assad’s forces against rebels in Syria.

The reports gained new urgency in the past weeks after Hezbollah buried several of its members, saying they died while performing their “jihadi duty.” Lebanese officials said they died in Syria.

He said those killed were among 30,000 Lebanese who live in Syrian territory along the border with Lebanon and were defending themselves against repeated attacks by gunmen in Syria.

“Until this moment we did not enter the fight alongside the (Syrian) regime,” Nasrallah said, but did not preclude the possibility that the group might do so in the future.

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Comments (30)

  • katzkiner
    Posted on October 12, 2012 at 1:18pm

    Free target practice for the IAF.

    Report this comment

    katzkiner  
  • charjan
    Posted on October 12, 2012 at 9:54am

    …and Israel will shoot them down time and again. Can’t hide them forever…before Israel discovers and annihilates them and the source. If I were a Cannanite citizen, I’d be ticked that not one of my “so-called” leaders has yet to make a peaceable homeland for my people. Arafat – “No”, but he died a billionaire – raping his people of their wealth. How many years has it been, and yet no peaceable homeland.

    Report this comment

    charjan  
  • Markmedina
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 8:58pm

    This is a act of war

    Report this comment

    Markmedina  
  • pissantno.10
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 7:00pm

    i head israel was not to worried all they had to do was follow the sting back acroos the boarder

    Report this comment

    pissantno.10  
  • tzion
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:47pm

    And you can bet Jerk will be along shortly to explain how oppressive it is that Israeli planes would, of all things, break the sound barrier over Lebanon.

    Report this comment

    tzion  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:40pm

    Israel is going to get more and more of these encroachments until they are going to have to do something forceful. They hate to be too beligerent because this stupid muslim we have for a president, obviously, will not help them nor support them in the worthless UN. It is just a matter of time before Israel attacks or even nukes Iran. Hide and watch. It’s gonna’ be interesting.

    Report this comment

    thegreatcarnac  
  • parkerbilt
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:37pm

    One guy wearing an Oregon sweatshirt. Of course liberal state. He learned to burn the flag there I bet.

    Report this comment

    parkerbilt  
  • fulcrum
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:06pm

    It would not surprise me if that so called “drone” is an exact or a similar copy of the one Obama left park unscathed in Iran for them to copy.
    If everyone remembers a couple of years ago the Iranians mysteriously found one of drones parked on one of their runways undamaged and clean.
    The obama administration has been on a mission to give away our secrets, our technology, and our money to the rest of the world.
    He knows that Iran is the most technologically advanced Muslim country that has the capacity to copy our technology, except for Saudi Arabia but they’re (Supposedly) our allies and cannot be accused of espionage.

    Report this comment

    fulcrum  
  • OniKaze
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:03pm

    My stance on Israel and all of its enemies is simply this (and I know its not perfect…)

    If anyone attacks Israel with no provocation from the Israelis then we should back Israel and help them. If Israel is the one who starts it, then we should tell them, “Good luck, your on your own this time, let us know how it turns out…”

    We have no business getting involved in someone else’s war, but we should help our allies if THEY are attacked.. But we shouldn’t waste American lives aiding Israel while it takes the offensive…

    We shouldn’t let our allies be bullied, but conversely we should not help them bully either.

    Report this comment

    OniKaze  
  • MrKnowItAll
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 4:55pm

    Shucks! Look at the America we have became. The guy who put the line in the main stream …”Open a can of whop ass on him.” Turns out to be a Commie! Adam I’ll pay more taxes if you do Shwandler.

    Report this comment

    MrKnowItAll  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 4:48pm

    Hey goofballs., when your drone gets shot down without inflicting damage, it was a failure.

    Report this comment

    Gonzo  
    • Fubared
      Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:08pm

      Yeh, but just imagine how gleeful Jihad Jerk is about his peeps getting all belligerent. Lalalalalala boom. Uh, somebody tell Achmedoodiejob to send us another. Lalalalala.

      Report this comment

      Fubared  
    • Zipit
      Posted on October 11, 2012 at 5:16pm

      How dare you! I keel you! Death to you, death to Israel, and oh yeah,,, what’s the spread on the Ducks game this Saturday? Alahu Akbar!!!!

      Report this comment

      Zipit  
  • Tri-ox
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 4:42pm

    With help from obama and his cabal, no doubt.

    Report this comment

    Tri-ox  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 4:37pm

    Is that guy on the right wearing an “Oregon” pull over hoodie jacket????

    Report this comment

    The-Monk  
  • Oneirishman
    Posted on October 11, 2012 at 4:31pm

    Did you notice the idiot is wearing a friggin Oregon Nike Hoody! What’s next baggy pants hanging off there butts?

    Report this comment

    Oneirishman  

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