Israel's defense establishment has decided, thus far, to refrain from divulging the full details regarding the origin of the unmanned aerial vehicle that was shot down by the IDF over the Negev earlier Saturday.
The only details published were that the UAV penetrated Israeli airspace from the direction of the Mediterranean, around the Gaza Strip.
Nonetheless, it is unlikely that Palestinian terror organizations from Gaza are responsible for the operation. In recent years, several reports surfaced in the Arab media that Gaza terror groups are showing an interest in UAVs. This incident, however, seems like a more complicated operation and therefore the immediate suspect is Hezbollah.
In the two years before the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah launched drones into Israel twice. Two more drones were intercepted by the IDF during the war in the summer of 2006, and were believed to had carried explosives meant to go off over central Israel. A fifth drone launched during the war crashed inside Lebanon, likely due to a technical failure.
The key question that must be examined during the IDF investigation into Saturday's incident should focus on the amount of time the drone stayed in Israel's skies. Defense Minister Ehud Barak hurried to release a congratulatory statement to the IDF for the quick interception of the drone. The IDF Spokesperson also praised the speedy and efficient operation. However, it appears that the drone traveled more than 15 minutes over southern Israel. more
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