Report: Drone may have been on mission to Dimona

Israeli officials tell 'McClatchy' that Iran-sponsored UAV possibly sent to take pictures of the Dimona nuclear research center.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
IAF shoots down UAV 370 (photo credit: IDF Spokesman's Office)
IAF shoots down UAV 370
(photo credit: IDF Spokesman's Office)
The unmanned aerial vehicle that entered Israeli airspace last Saturday may have been sent to take pictures of the Dimona nuclear research center, Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the McClatchy news agency Friday.
After being monitored for some time, the drone was shot down by Israeli F-16s south of Mount Hebron.
On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly admitted to sending the aircraft into Israel, saying "This flight was not our first [and] will not be our last, and we give assurances we can reach any point we want."
Nasrallah also confirmed the spy aircraft had been designed in Iran and then assembled by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
According to one Israeli official quoted by McClatchy, the drone “was a crude device, but it was a drone with all the capabilities that unmanned aerial crafts offer, and for that reason it is worrying.
"We are studying the drone now to learn more about what it accomplished and what Hezbollah intended with it."
The official said that the drone, the third that Hezbollah has dispatched over Israel, was the most sophisticated to date.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday 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."