Report: Hizbullah Most Sophisticated Antagonist Confronting Israel in Region
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Israel is determined to implement the lessons it learned from the Second Lebanon War, and to define its targets more clearly, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Saturday.
The report pointed out that Hizbullah’s launch of the Iranian-made drone, which penetrated Israeli airspace last Saturday, served as a reminder of the complicated balance of deterrent power between the sides.
It said that Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran, “looms as the most sophisticated antagonist vis-a-vis Israel in the region is not in dispute.”
Hizbullah's Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledgment of the drone which Israel shot down on October 6 came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed at Hizbullah and vowed to defend his country against further "threats."
"A sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft was sent from Lebanese territory ... and traveled hundreds of kilometers over the sea before crossing enemy lines and into occupied Palestine," Nasrallah said on television.
He warned that it would not be the last such operation by his party.
"It's not the first time (that a drone was sent) and it will not be the last. We can reach all the zones" of Israel, said Nasrallah, referring to a less sophisticated drone sent by Hizbullah during its 2006 war against Israel.
Israeli warplanes shot down the unmanned plane, but the infiltration marked a rare breach of Israel's tightly guarded airspace. Hizbullah had been the leading suspect because of its arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft.
In July 2006, the Israeli military shot down an unarmed drone operated by Hizbullah over the Jewish state's territorial waters.
And on April 12, 2005, another pilotless Hizbullah aircraft succeeded in overflying part of northern Israel without being downed.
Israel routinely sends F-16 fighter planes over Lebanon, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. The Israeli planes have often broken the sound barrier over Beirut and other places as a show of strength, most recently after the drone incident.
13 October 2012, 15:37
00
No more intelligence gathering habibeti...MOSTLY smashed. The Lebanese & the majority of the anti-Israeli world is looking forward to when the Lebanese can smash the arrogant Israeli head AGAIN. God willing sooner rather than later.
13 October 2012, 17:56
03
"lebanon needs to make sure hezb only receives its orders from none other than the lebanese authority and all should be well."
it would be naive to think that hezbos ask permission from the state as they DO NOT respect the lebanese state...they are the only one to decide of peace or war dragging a whole country into war without asking lebanese people if they are willing to... with the full support of FPM of course!
13 October 2012, 18:13
04
All this talk about Israel is to remove the focus on Syria and the failures by the filthy militia.
13 October 2012, 18:20
03
The next war with Israel the Hezz will have their back against a hostile regime in Syria. The Hezz are trying to lure Israel into a war in the same childish way Syria is trying to lure Turkey. There will be no Hezz war until ASSad is hung from a rope or on the run hiding in some despotic other country. Nassy boy knows this. The Shia will not be able to run to Syria and most other parts of Lebanon will reject them. They will be outcasts by their own actions.
13 October 2012, 19:40
01
"lebanon needs to make sure hezb only receives its orders from none other than the lebanese authority and all should be well."
Short of HA itself becoming the Lebanese authority, how do you propose to make that happen?
13 October 2012, 20:00
00
You just pray that Romney does not get elected because both Syria and Iran will have another G.W. Bush and another Iraq/Afghan war.
13 October 2012, 20:30
00
FT, I agree, what is a drone compared to all the F15 we endured...
But I dont agree, we are not really the most sophisticated unfortunately. It is the iranians. HA's sophistication is merely following the instructions manual to assemble the drone.
Furthermore, are you sure that the Hezb receives its orders from the lebanese authorities? In my opinion, HA is a mezzanine power that responds to different authorities than elected lebanese authorities
13 October 2012, 20:31
00
Guys you are all blind to the real facts, try to violate the American air space or any other country. The Zionist provocative policy anti-Lebanese is to blame here, the Zionist are the first to dump half million Palestinian on our land, just like the Assad regime dumping 70,000 and wait till he will reach the Zionist record. Reality here the region in need for regime change, Whether Zionist, Iranian with Hezboshaitan or Syrian.
13 October 2012, 20:33
10
very good point about Yasser Arafat, phoenix, ... These were black days...
regarding kick in the bucket, I dont really agree. The difference is that we used to think all is allright, while it in reality we were unstable. While now, we think things are not allright, while they are relatively stable.
