A Hezbollah fighter stands at a watch tower at Juroud Arsal, the Syria-Lebanon border. Photo: REUTERS
On January 7, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released photos showing alleged drone operators of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee claimed that the photos were recovered from a Hezbollah drone that was recently shot down after entering Israel’s airspace. The drone was a commercially available DJI Mavic Pro, which has a flight time of 31 minutes only.
The spokesman said that the photos recovered from the downed drone show an exercise by Hezbollah’s drone operators in unspecified area.
“The number of Hezbollah drones which were shot down by our forces increased [recently] thanks to a new system that entered service with the Galilee Formation,” Lt. Col. Adraee said, without elaborating.
Just three days earlier, the IDF shot down an alleged Hezbollah drone, a DJI Phantom 3, that crossed from Lebanon into Israel.
We downed a Hezbollah drone that crossed from Lebanon into Israel today. The drone was monitored by our soldiers throughout the incident.
The IDF will continue to operate against any attempt by terrorists to violate Israeli sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/G3gmRCsXts
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 4, 2022
Hezbollah has not commented on the Israeli claims, as for now. The group is known to have a fairly large, advanced drone force.
While Israel is complaining about Hezbollah drone activities along the separation line with Lebanon, its fighter jets and drone continue to conduct reconnaissance and combat missions in Lebanon’s airspace.
