Hezbollah was responsible for the drone that Israel shot down last weekend, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday during a tour of the security fence in southern Israel.
During the tour, Netanyahu stated that Israel would "act with determination to defend its borders at sea, on air and land" just as it had "thwarted Hezbollah's attempt over the weekend," to send an unmanned aircraft into Israeli airspace
Israeli defense chiefs on Tuesday praised the
country’s air defenses and countering claims that those who sent the craft
exposed a loophole.
The entity that launched the drone failed to retrieve
intelligence or harm the reputation of Israeli air defenses, said Amos Gilad,
policy director of the Defense Ministry, on Tuesday, without mentioning which
entity he was referring to.
Speaking to Israel Radio, Gilad reiterated
the IDF’s account of the drone intrusion, saying that the craft was spotted from
a long way away and, due to operational concerns, was shot down by the IDF over
southern Israel when IAF officers were certain it was over an uninhabited
zone.
Defense sources say the unarmed drone was sent to test Israeli
responses and gather intelligence.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Air
Force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel visited Air Defense Command officers in a
northern air base on Tuesday, in what appeared to be another sign of
support.
“You are serving in an important and responsible position,
especially during these times of regional uncertainties and challenges that are
not simple,” Barak told the officers.
Describing the officers as a select
group of “men and women who are required to strive for excellence,” the defense
minister told the officers that they are meeting expectations with
success.
“In the name of the Israeli government and the civilians, I came
here to thank you for your dedicated and responsible work,” Barak
said.
Iran was quick to try and score
propaganda points from the incident. An Iranian military official was quoted on
Monday by Iranian media as saying the incursion into Israeli airspace exposed
the weakness of air defenses.
The IDF said the unmanned aerial vehicle
was kept under observation while it flew over the Mediterranean Sea and banked
eastward over Gaza and into Israel. F-16 fighter jets that were monitoring the
drone shot it down south of Mount Hebron.
On Monday, the IDF confirmed
reports that it deployed a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery on Mount
Carmel, near Haifa.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office said the deployment “is
not an unusual occurrence.”
The Patriot system can intercept medium-range
ballistic missiles and planes and is also believed to be capable of shooting
down drones. It can intercept threats between the ranges of 60 to 160
kilometers.
Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report