With tensions still simmering between Israel and Lebanon and Israel and Gaza, drones from terror groups in both places invaded Israeli air space on the same day last week. Both were downed by the IDF.
The IDF Twitter feed reported that last Wednesday a Hezbollah drone entered from Lebanon into Israeli airspace, with the tweet saying Israeli troops “monitored & successfully downed the drone.” Noted the IDF post, “We will continue to operate in order to prevent any attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty.” The drone incident came less than a week after rocket attacks from Lebanon heated up, with 19 being fired by Hezbollah at Israel on August 6. That followed additional recent rocket attacks launched by other terrorists in Lebanon.
And on the same day as the Lebanese drone invasion last week, another drone entered Israeli air space from the Hamas terror group in Gaza. The IDF Twitter feed said that the Hamas drone was also “monitored and downed by our troops,” with the post noting that the IDF “will continue to prevent any attempt to harm Israeli civilians.”
The Times of Israel, in their report on the drones, pointed out the Gaza drone appeared to be an Israeli version recovered by Gaza terrorists in 2018. The media group’s Breaking News Editor, Emanuel Fabian, noted the irony in a Twitter post: “Story of a drone: Used by IDF in 2018 border protests, falls in Gaza. Operated by Hamas, falls in Israel.”
Unmanned aircraft such as drones have increasingly become part of the terror war against Israel, ranging from Iranian drones entering Israeli air space or the recent attack on the Mercer Street ship, to Hamas having a UAV and drone program that Israel struck during the May conflict with Gaza.
In July 2020, the Israeli Security Agency reported that a terrorist arrested earlier that year had plans to receive unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) training in Lebanon before he was apprehended.
A year later, the ongoing tensions with terrorists in Lebanon have only worsened, even as the economic situation in Lebanon has become disastrous.
On Tuesday last week, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz toured near Israel’s northern border and posted to Twitter his view of Israel’s troubled neighbor. He posted, as translated into English by Google, “Lebanon’s disintegration is a tragedy. The State of Israel calls on the world to help and is willing to help itself, but we will not allow the Lebanese tragedy to cross the border into Israel.”
And Israel’s not letting Hezbollah drones cross either.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 15, 2021)