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Hezbollah-linked TV says drones that hit Beirut came from Israeli gunboats
 [IsraelTimes] Al-Manar report says terror group has handed the crashed drones to Lebanese army after conducting investigation into attack said to have destroyed key missile component.The TV station of Leb’s Hezbollah terror group said Friday two drones used in an alleged attack south of Beirut were flown from Israeli gunboats off the Lebanese coast. Al-Manar TV’s report came five days after an alleged Israeli-launched drone crashed in a Hezbollah stronghold while another went kaboom!and crashed nearby. The TV reported that Hezbollah handed over the drones to the Lebanese army after conducting its investigation. Hezbollah has said its explosive experts found that one drone was laden with highly kabooms, suggesting the aerial vehicles were designed to carry out attacks. One drone was initially thought to be a reconnaissance drone. The target of the drone attack in Beirut was an expensive and rare industrial mixing machine used in the creation of solid fuel, and the raid set back the terror group’s plans to develop long-range precision missiles by at least a year, according to Hebrew media reports this week. In the wake of the attack, the IDF on Thursday revealed the identities of four senior Iranian and Hezbollah officials involved what it said was a joint project to manufacture precision-guided missiles for the Lebanese terror group, in a dramatic move apparently intended as a tacit threat to the officers. The army warned that the Iranian-led project was "jeopardizing the stability of Leb." The Lebanese army and government officials have described the drone crash incidents and Monday’s attack as blatant acts of aggression and violations of illusory sovereignty and following an emergency security meeting, asserted Leb’s right to self-defense. Israel’s military has been gearing up for a possible attack from Hezbollah, deploying extra troops to the northern border and limiting some movement along the frontier. On Monday, an Israeli military official warned that any Israeli response would be disproportionate, and Israel sent a message to Leb via the US that it would not limit its response to Hezbollah but would view all of Leb as a legitimate target, according to reports by Israeli news outlets. Lebanese daily al-Akhbar has reported that senior US officials were putting pressure on Beirut to rein in Hezbollah in order to avoid an escalation in violence, and were also attempting to defuse potentially explosive tensions. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the Lebanese government asked for Moscow to help "prevent a further escalation of tensions between Israel and Leb." Posted by: trailing wife 2019-08-31 |
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