The technology of the west is bound to get into the hands of the everyone sooner or later.
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Hezbollah penetrates Israeli air space
By Laura King in Jerusalem
November 9, 2004
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In a development that could heighten tensions between Israel and Iran, guerillas of the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah succeeded in breaching Israeli air space with an unmanned aerial drone.
The Israeli military acknowledged the incursion in a terse statement and said the aircraft had been supplied by Iran.
Hezbollah said in a statement released to news agencies in Beirut that the reconnaissance flight was "a natural response to the Zionist enemy's repeated and permanent violations of Lebanese air space".
The drone flew as far as the Israeli coastal city of Nahariya, several kilometres south of the Israeli-Lebanese border, before being brought back safely to base, Hezbollah said. But Israeli media reports cited military sources as saying the craft had crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
Other than occasional firefights, relative calm has prevailed along the Israeli-Lebanese frontier since Israel withdrew troops in May 2000 from southern Lebanon.
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AdvertisementAlthough the drone carried no weapons system, an Israeli Army spokesman, Captain Jacob Dallal, called the overflight "a violation of our sovereignty, which we take very, very seriously."
He said he knew of no other such aerial incursions by Hezbollah, and the group was not previously known to possess any aircraft.
The drone's overflight was brief, but nonetheless represented an embarrassment for the Israeli Air Force, which prides itself on its high-tech surveillance methods.
In the past year, Israel has accused Syria and Iran of providing Hezbollah with sophisticated weaponry including rockets and missiles with sufficient range to reach Haifa, a large Israeli coastal city.
Israel has also expressed growing alarm in recent months about Iran's nuclear ambitions, and says Iranian aid to Hezbollah underscores the Islamic republic's hostile intentions towards Israel.
In its statement, the Israeli Army made a thinly veiled threat against Lebanon, suggesting that if it did not rein in Hezbollah, it could pay a price.
"The state of Israel views gravely any infiltration into its sovereign territory from the air, sea or by land, and will act to ensure the security of its citizens."
In its statement, Hezbollah boasted of its "qualitative new achievement" and promised more such flights over "occupied northern Palestine".
Los Angeles Times
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