Israeli jets scrambled to intercept a drone that crossed into Israeli airspace on Saturday from the Mediterranean Sea, shooting it down over the southern part of the country, a military spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, said the drone had flown overthe Gaza Strip but didnot originate from the Palestinian territory. She said that Israel did not know the drone’s starting point.
Israeli news media reported that the aircraft was not carrying explosives and could have been a surveillance drone.
Israel has shot down drones entering its airspace before, but such intrusions have been rare.

Whose drone?

i read at another site they said it was Hezbollah... but that may not be true, i would guess it was Irans...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/world/middleeast/drone-downed-by-israeli-jets.html?ref=todayspaper

Israel checking: Was drone headedto Dimona?
After IDF collects remnants of unmanned aircraft shot down over southern forest, security establishment examining possibilityit was launched by Hezbollah to photograph Israeli reactor; army fears drones will be used to hit strategic sites
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4289261,00.html

Drones are cheaper than aircraft.

BEIRUT – Lebanon's state news agency says Israeli warplanes have staged mock raids over villages in southern Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier.

The National News Agency says the planes flew low over the market town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages on Sunday.

The exercise comes a day after the Israeli military shot down a drone that crossed deep into Israel from the Mediterranean Sea, marking the first time in at least six years that a hostile aircraft has penetrated Israeli airspace.

It was not immediately clear who launched the drone, but suspicion quickly fell on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed group is known to have sent drones into Israel on several previous occasions.

The Israeli military declined to comment on reports that its jets flew over southern Lebanon.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/07/israeli-jets-stage-mock-raids-over-south-lebanon/?test=latestnews#ixzz28fpdvsbM

They don't get their virgins if they use a drone............

Hezbollah: That Was Our 'Iran-Made' Drone Over Israel
ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/hezbollah-iran-made-drone-israel/story?id=17454303#.UHct7VFmOHU

The link isn't working.

They have acquired intelligence photos of the drone which is of a highly sophisticated and advanced nature.



I understand that the state department may be investigating Toyz r US for possible violation of export technology controls.

Hmmm...for some reason it works if you paste it in the browser
but not if you try to click on the link...Anyway I figure I might
as well post the article so here it is:

Pretty sure that the fact that it was an Iranian drone comes as
a surprise to no one.


By ALEXANDER MARQUARDT (@marquardta) , NASSER ATTA and RANDY KREIDER
Oct. 11, 2012

The leader of Hezbollah claimed today his group was responsible for an unidentified drone that flew deep into Israeli airspace on Saturday before it was shot out of the sky by the Israeli Air Force, and that the aircraft was Iranian-made.

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the militant Lebanon-based group, made the revelations in a televised address today and boasted that the drone had been able to fly hundreds of kilometers undetected before it entered Israel, then tens of kilometers over Israel before it was eventually shot down.

"Today we are uncovering a small part of our capabilities, and we shall keep many more hidden," Nasrallah said, adding that it is Hezbollah's "natural right" and the group "can reach any place we want."

He said the drone was able to film strategic and sensitive Israeli facilities -- it was downed near the Dimona nuclear facility -- and claimed that his group plans to put more drones in the air over Israel. In addition to surveillance drones like this one, he said some of Hezbollah's drones could be armed as well.

The Israeli military said the drone entered Israel from the Mediterranean Sea, flying over the Gaza Strip and then the Negev desert before it was shot down south of the West Bank. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said it had not detected any drone flying from Lebanese airspace into Israeli airspace on Saturday.

WATCH an Israeli jet shoot down the drone.

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A Lebanese television station close to Hezbollah had reported the drone was Hezbollah's but Nasrallah's address was the first official claim. Shortly after Israel downed the drone, fighter jets streaked over southern Lebanon, causing a sonic boom, according to Lebanese media. Israel crossing into Lebanese air space, however, is a common occurrence, a fact reiterated by Nasrallah.

Nasrallah said the weekend's drone was assembled by Lebanese experts but made in Iran, which has a much-publicized drone development program. Following the Israeli destruction of the drone, an Iranian commander said the incident had shown the "weakness and inefficiency" of Israeli defense systems.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised his country's military for taking the drone out and said Israel will "continue to defend our borders by sea, land, and air to guarantee the security of our citizens."

In apparent response to the drone incursion, earlier this week Israel deployed Patriot missile batteries to Haifa, some 20 miles from Lebanon's southern border.

Ted Harshberger, director of Project Air Force at the RAND Corporation thinktank, wrote in U.S. News and World Report that the incident should not have come as a surprise considering how easy it is to develop relatively unsophisticated drones.

"Practically any country that aspires to an indigenous aviation industry (as most countries do, even if only for national pride) has a reasonably capable, medium-altitude unmanned drone system in development or flying already," he wrote.

In his address, Nasrallah also denied widespread reports that Hezbollah fighters are in Syria fighting for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and that they'd been killed. He said there were "Lebanese villages" inside Syria, apparently meaning villages that straddle the border, and that some of the 30,000 residents of the villages had taken up arms to defend themselves. If Hezbollah goes to fight in Syria, Nasrallah said, the group would make it public.