Hizb Allah: Our drones can hit Israel
The chief of Hizb Allah said the Shia Muslim movement has in its possession drones that can carry explosives to strike targets deep inside Israel if the country attacks Lebanon.
“I confirm what the Israeli chief of staff has said: Mirsad I can carry explosives of about 40 and 50 kilograms,” Hizb Allah chief Shaikh Hassan Nasr Allah told a rally marking Jerusalem Day in Baalbak, eastern Lebanon.
“It does not have the capacity of only reaching Nahariya (in northern Israel), but deeper and deeper, against electricity and water installations and military bases,” he said in the Hizb Allah stronghold.
The movement said it had sent a drone over Israel in response to repeated violations of Lebanese airspace by Israel, which has prided itself for decades on having total control of the region’s skies.
Response to aggression
Nasr Allah said Hizb Allah’s first flight over Israel to the Mediterranean town of Nahariya lasted 14 minutes.
“At first, we did not use Mirsad I for a military action, but to confront the violations. But if our country faces aggression, we will use any means and capability that we possess,” he warned.
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Israeli warplanes have violated |
“We do not only have the capacity of confronting violations of (Lebanese) airspace, but we also have the capacity to respond to any aerial aggression or any kind of action from the air,” he added.
“We do not just have one plane, we have enough of them, and we have the capability of building as many planes as we need.”
The United Nations, which repeatedly denounces Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, said the incursion by the Hizb Allah drone had been followed by violations of Lebanese airspace by five Israeli warplanes and condemned both.
Lebanese Information Minister Elie Ferzli justified the drone flights, saying Hizb Allah had “turned to this method because international protests have not succeeded in putting an end to Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace”.