Sunday, October 07, 2012

Matt 24 Watch, 171: Israel shoots down a drone perhaps headed for Dimona

On Saturday October 6th, at about 10:00am local time -- and the thirty-ninth anniversay of the Egyptian and Syrian attacks on Yom Kippur in 1973 that launched a major conflict that went to nuclear threshold (and if memory serves, that was a Saturday, too) -- Israel shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle thought to have been launched from Lebanon by Iran or an Iranian proxy. The UAV was reportedly shot down some 30 km [about 20 miles] from Israel's nuclear reactor facility at Dimona.

IDF Video:



Ynet News, commenting on the incident, notes:
Some entity, apparently Iran through Hezbollah or the Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, tested its technological and operational capabilities and also tested Israel's air defense capabilities. While Israel's air defense systems worked, we cannot ignore the fact that the drone, which was apparently Iranian made, was shot down a mere 30 kilometers from the Dimona reactor. This will give Nasrallah and his masters a cause for celebration . . . . 
Israel is withholding information regarding the penetration of the drone into its airspace, because at this very moment professionals in Iran and Lebanon are waiting for every bit of information regarding the drone's flight and the manner in which it was shot down in order to draw operational lessons: Where are the Israeli air defense's weak spots? What are the weaknesses of the drone itself?

Meanwhile in Israel, engineers and intelligence officials are reassembling the drone. It is not every day that you get an opportunity to study a product of Iranian technology so thoroughly and see how far they have come.

Those who launched the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will manipulate the infiltration for their own propaganda purposes, as the drone was shot down only after flying for 20 minutes over populated Israeli areas, an army base and near sensitive facilities such as the Dimona reactor.  
 The incident marks a clear escalation in Israel-Iran tension, already at fever pitch. END