by Elad Benari
IAF fighter jets make low-altitude flights over Dahiya district of Beirut hours after Hezbollah drone enters Israeli territory.
IAF fighter jets made low-altitude flights over the Dahiya district of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, on Friday afternoon.
The flights were made in an attempt to send a message of deterrence to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, after a Hezbollah drone crossed the Lebanon border into Israeli territory earlier in the day.
Prominent social media activists affiliated with the terrorist organization released videos in which Israeli planes are seen carrying out the flights accompanied by supersonic booms, according to Channel 12 News.
Earlier on Friday, warning sirens were sounded the Upper Galilee, including towns near the Lebanese border such as Rosh Pina, and the southern Golan Heights.
Later, an IDF spokesperson said that an unmanned aircraft had violated Israeli airspace.
"Regarding the sounding of the warning siren: A small unmanned aircraft crossed into Israeli airspace from Lebanon. As a result of the violation, warning sirens were activated and the Iron Dome system fired interceptor missiles, with combat aircraft and helicopters scrambled. The details are being investigated."
In a follow-up statement, an IDF spokesperson said that the Iron Dome interceptor missiles had failed to shoot down the drone aircraft, which later returned to Lebanese airspace.
Hezbollah then released a statement saying it launched the drone on a reconnaissance mission over Israel.
The group said it launched its "Hassan" drone on a 40-minute reconnaissance mission across the border and that the drone made it back to Lebanon.
On Thursday, Israeli defense forces shot down an unmanned aircraft operated by the Hezbollah terrorist organization which had crossed over into Israeli airspace from Lebanon.
Friday’s incident took plays two days after Nasrallah claimed that the terrorist organization has the ability within Lebanon to convert thousands of rockets into precision missiles and to produce drones/
"We have been producing drones in Lebanon for a long time, and whoever wants to buy them, submit an order," Nasrallah said in a televised speech to followers.
He added that Hezbollah was able to transform standard rockets into precision missiles with the cooperation of "experts from the Islamic Republic of Iran". Such production had been spurred by Israel's increased use of drone technology, he said.
Elad Benari
Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/322526
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