29 aug 2019
Security forces patrol the Israel-Lebanon border
'Nasrallah is the one who should be scared,' say mayor of Kiryat Shmona, which took its share of rocket fire during the 2006 Second Lebanon War; local security officer laments lack of government funding to reinforce bomb shelters
Despite the growing security tensions in the north, thousands turned out Wednesday for the 70th anniversary celebrations for Kiryat Shmona, the small city on the Lebanese border that bears the scars of multiple rocket attacks.
The central Hayarden Street was turned into a thoroughfare, and the city's park hosted a huge event that included a concert by X Factor winner and city native Eden Ben Zaken.
"Making sure her concert went without a hitch was the only stress we felt around here," said the city's mayor Avichai Stern.
"We don’t feel any security pressures here," he said. "I think there's a bit of a confusion, (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah is the one who should be scared. This area is always on the verge of blowing up, but if we let that affect us we wouldn't be able to live normally, let alone celebrate anything."
He added, however, that the event had been fully coordinated with the security forces. "If there were any substantial fear of something happening, I don’t believe the security forces would approve having such a public event outside," Stern said.
The vigilance in the north is also present in Kiryat Shmona, which took a significant amount of rocket fire during the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah.
Locals report more IDF vehicles on the roads, police stand ready to close roads near the border and the occasional buzz of drones can be heard overhead - but this state of readiness does not really drip into the everyday lives of the people of the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee.
The heightened alert is in response to an IDF airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital and an alleged Israeli drone attack on a Hezbollah communications center in Beirut, as well as the threats made by Hezbollah in response. There was also evidence of brewing tensions on the other side of the border when Lebanese soldiers shot at IDF drones on Wednesday.
Many of the visitors to Kiryat Shmona share the positivity and optimism of the locals, as they visit natural sites and tourist attractions on the last week of the schools' summer vacation.
One such visitor was Avi Einhorn from Beit Shemesh in central Israel, who said that he and his family were deliberately avoiding the news while on holiday.
"We arrived here on Sunday, and the first thing we did was shut off the radio," he said. "We don’t have any idea what this is all about. We'll be home on Friday and then we'll catch up on recent events. In the meantime we are hiking and having fun. I'm sure if there was any real threat the army would tell us to evacuate."
Local bike shop owner Assaf Deutch says recent events have not had any effect on the number of visitors, and estmiates that there are some 15-20% more visitors than last summer.
The main issue, he says, is the summer heat and not Nasrallah.
Few of the visitors to the area have been traveling and camping, trusting that the security forces will protect them from any attacks.
We have "God and the IDF to watch over us," says one tourist.
The local authorities are updated by the IDF about situational readiness, and the directions are clear: keep up your normal routine.
The local council's security officer Asaf Langleben says that the regional authority is always prepared to quickly shift from a daily routine to emergency footing.
"This week was very good to us tourism-wise," he says. "Current events will have no effect on the opening of the academic year in any way. We're all practiced and ready, and at the start of the new school year we'll go over security readiness and so on."
What does frustrate Langleben, however, is the indefinite delay of the NIS 5 billion the government was supposed to deliver to the local councils in order to reinforce local shelters and protect its citizens.
"We don't even have the 15 seconds those communities surrounding the Gaza Strip have," he says. "If you don't have a shelter at home, you're basically totally unprotected. The only thing you can do in that situation is lay flat on the floor."
'Nasrallah is the one who should be scared,' say mayor of Kiryat Shmona, which took its share of rocket fire during the 2006 Second Lebanon War; local security officer laments lack of government funding to reinforce bomb shelters
Despite the growing security tensions in the north, thousands turned out Wednesday for the 70th anniversary celebrations for Kiryat Shmona, the small city on the Lebanese border that bears the scars of multiple rocket attacks.
The central Hayarden Street was turned into a thoroughfare, and the city's park hosted a huge event that included a concert by X Factor winner and city native Eden Ben Zaken.
"Making sure her concert went without a hitch was the only stress we felt around here," said the city's mayor Avichai Stern.
"We don’t feel any security pressures here," he said. "I think there's a bit of a confusion, (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah is the one who should be scared. This area is always on the verge of blowing up, but if we let that affect us we wouldn't be able to live normally, let alone celebrate anything."
He added, however, that the event had been fully coordinated with the security forces. "If there were any substantial fear of something happening, I don’t believe the security forces would approve having such a public event outside," Stern said.
The vigilance in the north is also present in Kiryat Shmona, which took a significant amount of rocket fire during the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah.
Locals report more IDF vehicles on the roads, police stand ready to close roads near the border and the occasional buzz of drones can be heard overhead - but this state of readiness does not really drip into the everyday lives of the people of the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee.
The heightened alert is in response to an IDF airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital and an alleged Israeli drone attack on a Hezbollah communications center in Beirut, as well as the threats made by Hezbollah in response. There was also evidence of brewing tensions on the other side of the border when Lebanese soldiers shot at IDF drones on Wednesday.
Many of the visitors to Kiryat Shmona share the positivity and optimism of the locals, as they visit natural sites and tourist attractions on the last week of the schools' summer vacation.
One such visitor was Avi Einhorn from Beit Shemesh in central Israel, who said that he and his family were deliberately avoiding the news while on holiday.
"We arrived here on Sunday, and the first thing we did was shut off the radio," he said. "We don’t have any idea what this is all about. We'll be home on Friday and then we'll catch up on recent events. In the meantime we are hiking and having fun. I'm sure if there was any real threat the army would tell us to evacuate."
Local bike shop owner Assaf Deutch says recent events have not had any effect on the number of visitors, and estmiates that there are some 15-20% more visitors than last summer.
The main issue, he says, is the summer heat and not Nasrallah.
Few of the visitors to the area have been traveling and camping, trusting that the security forces will protect them from any attacks.
We have "God and the IDF to watch over us," says one tourist.
The local authorities are updated by the IDF about situational readiness, and the directions are clear: keep up your normal routine.
The local council's security officer Asaf Langleben says that the regional authority is always prepared to quickly shift from a daily routine to emergency footing.
"This week was very good to us tourism-wise," he says. "Current events will have no effect on the opening of the academic year in any way. We're all practiced and ready, and at the start of the new school year we'll go over security readiness and so on."
What does frustrate Langleben, however, is the indefinite delay of the NIS 5 billion the government was supposed to deliver to the local councils in order to reinforce local shelters and protect its citizens.
"We don't even have the 15 seconds those communities surrounding the Gaza Strip have," he says. "If you don't have a shelter at home, you're basically totally unprotected. The only thing you can do in that situation is lay flat on the floor."
Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed
Iraq has lashed out at Bahrain for backing recent Israeli attacks on Arab countries, defending sacrifices made by a pro-government military force to counter terrorists.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said it “rejects and condemns” Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah’s Tweet about the Zionist enemy’s targeting of Arab territories and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, an effective force in the Baghdad government’s anti-Daesh fight.
It also stressed that the PMU has stood by Iraqi armed forces “to defend our holy land and made great sacrifices to liberate the cities of Iraq, and to defeat Daesh terrorist gangs.”
The Israeli regime is widely known to be behind a wave of air raids on positions of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi in recent weeks. Reports say those air raids had the support of the Saudi regime and were launched from the areas controlled by US-backed Kurdish militants in the northern parts of neighboring Syria.
In the latest such attack on the weekend, Israeli drones struck a PMU convoy near the Iraqi town of al-Qa’im close to the Syrian border, killing a commander and severely wounding a fighter.
This came a day after Israel carried out strikes near the Syrian capital, Damascus, claiming that the air raids were “able to thwart an Iranian attempt ... to conduct an attack on Israeli targets ... using killer drones.”
Syria, however, said that its air defenses had managed to detect hostile targets approaching from the occupied Golan Heights towards Damascus and destroyed most of the Israeli rockets before they could reach their destinations.
Just hours later in early Sunday, two explosives-laden Israeli drones violated Lebanese airspace on a bombing mission and crashed in the stronghold the Hezbollah resistance movement in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. One of the drones blew up near the ground, causing some damage to Hezbollah’s media office.
The top Bahraini diplomat took to Twitter on Monday to express his support for the Israeli attacks, labeling them an act of “self-defense.”
“Iran is the one who has declared a war on us, with its [Islamic] Revolution Guards Corps, its Lebanese party, its Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, its Houthi arm in Yemen and others,” Khalifah claimed. “So one who strikes and destroys the piles of their ammunition is not to blame. That is self-defense.”
The controversial comments were the latest public show of support for Tel Aviv from Manama, which has been trying to normalize ties with the oppressive regime, in what has been viewed by Palestine and its supporters as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause against Israel’s occupation.
Back in June, Khalifah took the lid off Bahrain’s longtime secret dealings with Israel by openly saying that Manama wants “peace” and “better” relations with the occupying entity.
Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to Syria, strengthening the hand of its national army on the battlefield against the terrorists, who have the support of the US, Israel and their allies, including Persian Gulf Arab regimes.
The Syrian military has also the support of Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement in its counter-terrorism operations.
Tehran offered similar assistance to Iraq and set the stage for the neighboring nation to win its three-year-long campaign against Daesh, the world’s most notorious terror outfit, in late 2017.
Bahrain — a vassal state of Saudi Arabia — is party to a Riyadh-led coalition waging a bloody military campaign against Yemen with the aim of reinstalling a Saudi-friendly puppet regime.
Manama and its allies claim Iran provides arms to the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which both runs Yemen and defends its nation, a claim Tehran has repeatedly rejected.
Iraq has lashed out at Bahrain for backing recent Israeli attacks on Arab countries, defending sacrifices made by a pro-government military force to counter terrorists.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said it “rejects and condemns” Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah’s Tweet about the Zionist enemy’s targeting of Arab territories and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, an effective force in the Baghdad government’s anti-Daesh fight.
It also stressed that the PMU has stood by Iraqi armed forces “to defend our holy land and made great sacrifices to liberate the cities of Iraq, and to defeat Daesh terrorist gangs.”
The Israeli regime is widely known to be behind a wave of air raids on positions of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi in recent weeks. Reports say those air raids had the support of the Saudi regime and were launched from the areas controlled by US-backed Kurdish militants in the northern parts of neighboring Syria.
In the latest such attack on the weekend, Israeli drones struck a PMU convoy near the Iraqi town of al-Qa’im close to the Syrian border, killing a commander and severely wounding a fighter.
This came a day after Israel carried out strikes near the Syrian capital, Damascus, claiming that the air raids were “able to thwart an Iranian attempt ... to conduct an attack on Israeli targets ... using killer drones.”
Syria, however, said that its air defenses had managed to detect hostile targets approaching from the occupied Golan Heights towards Damascus and destroyed most of the Israeli rockets before they could reach their destinations.
Just hours later in early Sunday, two explosives-laden Israeli drones violated Lebanese airspace on a bombing mission and crashed in the stronghold the Hezbollah resistance movement in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. One of the drones blew up near the ground, causing some damage to Hezbollah’s media office.
The top Bahraini diplomat took to Twitter on Monday to express his support for the Israeli attacks, labeling them an act of “self-defense.”
“Iran is the one who has declared a war on us, with its [Islamic] Revolution Guards Corps, its Lebanese party, its Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, its Houthi arm in Yemen and others,” Khalifah claimed. “So one who strikes and destroys the piles of their ammunition is not to blame. That is self-defense.”
The controversial comments were the latest public show of support for Tel Aviv from Manama, which has been trying to normalize ties with the oppressive regime, in what has been viewed by Palestine and its supporters as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause against Israel’s occupation.
Back in June, Khalifah took the lid off Bahrain’s longtime secret dealings with Israel by openly saying that Manama wants “peace” and “better” relations with the occupying entity.
Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to Syria, strengthening the hand of its national army on the battlefield against the terrorists, who have the support of the US, Israel and their allies, including Persian Gulf Arab regimes.
The Syrian military has also the support of Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement in its counter-terrorism operations.
Tehran offered similar assistance to Iraq and set the stage for the neighboring nation to win its three-year-long campaign against Daesh, the world’s most notorious terror outfit, in late 2017.
Bahrain — a vassal state of Saudi Arabia — is party to a Riyadh-led coalition waging a bloody military campaign against Yemen with the aim of reinstalling a Saudi-friendly puppet regime.
Manama and its allies claim Iran provides arms to the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which both runs Yemen and defends its nation, a claim Tehran has repeatedly rejected.
28 aug 2019
This file picture shows an IAI Eitan unmanned reconnaissance aircraft at a base in the Israeli-occupied territories
Lebanese security sources say the country’s air defense units have fired shots at two of three Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles as they were flying in the skies over the country’s southern region near the border with the occupied territories.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drones were targeted above the village of Adaisseh in the southern province of Nabatieh on Wednesday evening.
The Arabic-language Voice of Lebanon radio station reported that the army fired at the “two drones” after they “violated Lebanon’s airspace at low altitude. The Lebanese gunfire forced the drones to return to Israel.”
Al-Mayadeen television news network said the two “small drones” were flying over the army’s post in Adaisseh.
The development came only a few days after an Israeli drone attack on the southern part of the capital Beirut at the weekend.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council has stated that the Lebanese nation reserves the right to defend the country “by any means necessary” in the wake of the drone strike.
“This is a right that is enshrined in the UN Charter,” the Council, a government body in charge of defense policy, said in a statement on Tuesday, emphasizing that “national unity remains the best weapon in the face of any aggression.”
The meeting was chaired by President Michel Aoun and attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs and finance, and the heads of security agencies.
“The President underlined the need to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity because it is a legitimate right,” the statement noted.
Hariri had earlier called upon the United Nations Security Council to pressure Israel not to initiate any action of aggression against Lebanon.
“If Israel’s aggressions escalate, this will have dangerous repercussions on Lebanon and the whole region,” a statement by Hariri's office said.
The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement said on Monday that Israel had sent two drones into Lebanon on a bombing mission on the weekend.
According to Hezbollah, the first drone had fallen on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office in Dahieh suburb. The second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one, had crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air, it added.
Following the drone raids, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, vowed in a televised speech that fighters of the movement would counter any further violation of the Lebanese airspace by Israeli drones, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately halt such breaches.
Lebanese security sources say the country’s air defense units have fired shots at two of three Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles as they were flying in the skies over the country’s southern region near the border with the occupied territories.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drones were targeted above the village of Adaisseh in the southern province of Nabatieh on Wednesday evening.
The Arabic-language Voice of Lebanon radio station reported that the army fired at the “two drones” after they “violated Lebanon’s airspace at low altitude. The Lebanese gunfire forced the drones to return to Israel.”
Al-Mayadeen television news network said the two “small drones” were flying over the army’s post in Adaisseh.
The development came only a few days after an Israeli drone attack on the southern part of the capital Beirut at the weekend.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council has stated that the Lebanese nation reserves the right to defend the country “by any means necessary” in the wake of the drone strike.
“This is a right that is enshrined in the UN Charter,” the Council, a government body in charge of defense policy, said in a statement on Tuesday, emphasizing that “national unity remains the best weapon in the face of any aggression.”
The meeting was chaired by President Michel Aoun and attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs and finance, and the heads of security agencies.
“The President underlined the need to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity because it is a legitimate right,” the statement noted.
Hariri had earlier called upon the United Nations Security Council to pressure Israel not to initiate any action of aggression against Lebanon.
“If Israel’s aggressions escalate, this will have dangerous repercussions on Lebanon and the whole region,” a statement by Hariri's office said.
The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement said on Monday that Israel had sent two drones into Lebanon on a bombing mission on the weekend.
According to Hezbollah, the first drone had fallen on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office in Dahieh suburb. The second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one, had crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air, it added.
Following the drone raids, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, vowed in a televised speech that fighters of the movement would counter any further violation of the Lebanese airspace by Israeli drones, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately halt such breaches.
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This picture taken on August 25, 2019 shows damage to a building housing a media center of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement in the south of the capital Beirut, after two drones came down in its vicinity earlier in the day
The Hezbollah resistance movement has warned Israel of a “surprise blow” in retaliation for the regime’s recent drone incursion into Lebanon. In an interview with Russia’s RT television network on Tuesday, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said that the recent Israeli drone attacks on the Lebanese soil could not be considered “a passing issue.” He also refused to provide details of Hezbollah’s response, adding, however, that the reaction would be “a surprise” for the Tel Aviv regime. Qassem further described the Lebanese government’s position on the Israeli assaults as correct, stressing that the country would not wait for a reaction from the United Nations Security Council. Two Israeli drones — which Hezbollah said were on a bombing mission — crashed in the Hezbollah stronghold in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Sunday. One of the drones blew up near the ground, causing some damage to |
Hezbollah’s media office in the Moawwad neighborhood of Beirut’s Dahieh suburb.
Hezbollah said the unmanned aerial vehicles were rigged with explosives, with the movement’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressing that they were on a “suicide mission.”
He also described Sunday’s raids as the first Israeli attack on Lebanon since the 2006 war.
“From now on, we will down any Israeli drones in Lebanon’s skies,” he said. “I say to the Israeli army on the border from tonight, stand guard. Wait for us one, two, three, four days.”
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has said Israel’s recent drone strikes in Lebanon amounts to “a declaration of war” against the Arab country.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Israel used the drone attacks “to change the rules of engagement.”
The aggression, he noted, constitutes “a threat to regional stability and an attempt to push the situation towards further tension.”
Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, in both of which Hezbollah inflicted heavy losses on the regime’s military.
Israeli officials have even threatened another war on Lebanon.
Hezbollah said the unmanned aerial vehicles were rigged with explosives, with the movement’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressing that they were on a “suicide mission.”
He also described Sunday’s raids as the first Israeli attack on Lebanon since the 2006 war.
“From now on, we will down any Israeli drones in Lebanon’s skies,” he said. “I say to the Israeli army on the border from tonight, stand guard. Wait for us one, two, three, four days.”
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has said Israel’s recent drone strikes in Lebanon amounts to “a declaration of war” against the Arab country.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Israel used the drone attacks “to change the rules of engagement.”
The aggression, he noted, constitutes “a threat to regional stability and an attempt to push the situation towards further tension.”
Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, in both of which Hezbollah inflicted heavy losses on the regime’s military.
Israeli officials have even threatened another war on Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council has stated that the Lebanese nation reserves the right to defend the country “by any means necessary” in the wake of an Israeli drone attack on the southern part of the capital Beirut at the weekend.
“This is a right that is enshrined in the UN Charter,” the Council, a government body in charge of defense policy, said in a statement on Tuesday, emphasizing that “national unity remains the best weapon in the face of any aggression.”
The meeting was chaired by President Michel Aoun and attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs and finance, and the heads of security agencies.
“The President underlined the need to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity because it is a legitimate right,” the statement noted.
Hariri said the drone attack – the first of its kind since the summer 2006 war Israeli war on Lebanon – posed a threat to regional stability.
Israel used the attack "to change the rules of engagement," he said.
On Monday, Hariri called upon the United Nations Security Council to pressure Israel not to initiate any action of aggression against Lebanon.
“If Israel’s aggressions escalate, this will have dangerous repercussions on Lebanon and the whole region,” a statement by Hariri's office said.
Hariri said that the government wants to prevent any escalations, which requires the support of the international community.
His remarks came during a meeting with French, Chinese, US, Russian and British ambassadors to Lebanon.
Separately, Aoun said Israel’s recent drone strikes in Lebanon amounts to “a declaration of war” against the Arab country, vowing that Lebanon will defend its sovereignty against the Israeli aggression.
The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement said on Monday that Israel had sent two drones into Lebanon on a bombing mission on the weekend.
According to Hezbollah, the first drone had fallen on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office in Dahieh suburb. The second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one, had crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air, it added.
Following the drone raids, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, vowed in a televised speech that fighters of the movement would counter any further violation of the Lebanese airspace by Israeli drones, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately halt such breaches.
“This is a right that is enshrined in the UN Charter,” the Council, a government body in charge of defense policy, said in a statement on Tuesday, emphasizing that “national unity remains the best weapon in the face of any aggression.”
The meeting was chaired by President Michel Aoun and attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs and finance, and the heads of security agencies.
“The President underlined the need to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity because it is a legitimate right,” the statement noted.
Hariri said the drone attack – the first of its kind since the summer 2006 war Israeli war on Lebanon – posed a threat to regional stability.
Israel used the attack "to change the rules of engagement," he said.
On Monday, Hariri called upon the United Nations Security Council to pressure Israel not to initiate any action of aggression against Lebanon.
“If Israel’s aggressions escalate, this will have dangerous repercussions on Lebanon and the whole region,” a statement by Hariri's office said.
Hariri said that the government wants to prevent any escalations, which requires the support of the international community.
His remarks came during a meeting with French, Chinese, US, Russian and British ambassadors to Lebanon.
Separately, Aoun said Israel’s recent drone strikes in Lebanon amounts to “a declaration of war” against the Arab country, vowing that Lebanon will defend its sovereignty against the Israeli aggression.
The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement said on Monday that Israel had sent two drones into Lebanon on a bombing mission on the weekend.
According to Hezbollah, the first drone had fallen on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office in Dahieh suburb. The second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one, had crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air, it added.
Following the drone raids, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, vowed in a televised speech that fighters of the movement would counter any further violation of the Lebanese airspace by Israeli drones, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately halt such breaches.
27 aug 2019
A Lebanese army soldier walks past military intelligence forensic investigators inspect the aftermath of an Israeli drone attack against the capital Beirut on August 25, 2019
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says an Israeli drone that crashed into its media center recently had been dispatched on an offensive mission.
On Sunday, Israel flew explosive-laden drones into Lebanon, the movement said on Tuesday.
After the party's "experts dismantled the first drone that crashed in Beirut's southern suburbs, it was found that it contained a sealed explosive device" of around 5.5 kilogrammes, it noted about the aircraft that crashed into the facility.
The crash inflicted severe damage onto the building, although the aircraft’s payload did not detonate.
"We confirm that the purpose of this first drone was not reconnaissance but the carrying out of a bombing attack," it added.
A second armed drone then "hit a specific area" before dawn on Sunday. The aircraft attacked Lebanon’s Bakka region near the border with Syria.
After the Sunday incident, Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah issued a stern caution to Tel Aviv, saying the group would act, from then on, to down transgressing Israeli drones.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun also said that recent Israeli aerial transgressions against the country amounted to “declaration of war.” The Lebanese head of state said the incursion “allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty.”
United Nations Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body calls for "maximum restraint" by all parties “both in action and rhetoric."
Tel Aviv staged wholesale wars against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, during both of which it was forced to withdraw after being surprised by Hezbollah’s defensive performance.
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says an Israeli drone that crashed into its media center recently had been dispatched on an offensive mission.
On Sunday, Israel flew explosive-laden drones into Lebanon, the movement said on Tuesday.
After the party's "experts dismantled the first drone that crashed in Beirut's southern suburbs, it was found that it contained a sealed explosive device" of around 5.5 kilogrammes, it noted about the aircraft that crashed into the facility.
The crash inflicted severe damage onto the building, although the aircraft’s payload did not detonate.
"We confirm that the purpose of this first drone was not reconnaissance but the carrying out of a bombing attack," it added.
A second armed drone then "hit a specific area" before dawn on Sunday. The aircraft attacked Lebanon’s Bakka region near the border with Syria.
After the Sunday incident, Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah issued a stern caution to Tel Aviv, saying the group would act, from then on, to down transgressing Israeli drones.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun also said that recent Israeli aerial transgressions against the country amounted to “declaration of war.” The Lebanese head of state said the incursion “allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty.”
United Nations Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body calls for "maximum restraint" by all parties “both in action and rhetoric."
Tel Aviv staged wholesale wars against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, during both of which it was forced to withdraw after being surprised by Hezbollah’s defensive performance.
