Israeli’s Air Force shot down an unmanned drone over the desert today, CNN is reporting, and while nobody is saying exactly where the craft originated from, Israeli leaders believe the Iranian militant network Hezbollah is responsible.
The Israeli Defense Forces saw the drone hovering over Gaza before it came into Israeli’s airspace. It didn’t carry any explosives or weapons, but Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the country is viewing “this incident of attempting to enter Israeli airspace very severely and we will consider our response later.”
The military kept watch on the drone until a fighter jet was able to shoot it down over Israel’s Yatir Forest. Military spokewoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich wouldn’t talk about the unmanned aircraft’s route or if it was flown over any military bases.
Israel shoots down unidentified drone over its airspace: zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-0…Possibly similar to the US RQ-170 drone that crashed in Iran.
— Mikko Hypponen (@mikko) October 6, 2012
Military officials said the drone doesn’t appear to have come from Gaza, which forms the western border of the Negev with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea.
Military officials, however, said it does not appear that it took off from Gaza, which along with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Mediterranean Sea forms the western border of the Negev.
This is the first time hostile aircraft has penetrated the Israel airspace in about six years. The pro-Iran Islamic militant group Hezbollah is a major suspect in today’s incident. Just last week, Israeli officials said they arrested an Arab citizen in Israel for spying and identifying military targets for the terrorist group.