Photo: Reuters.
F-16s scrambled to engage hostile drone; missile shoots down vessel off Haifa coast; not clear whether drone was armed; Netanyahu: Israel prepared to deal with any threat posed from Syria or Lebanon in the air, land or sea.
The Israeli Air Force shot down a drone over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday off the coast of Haifa which had flown south from Lebanon.
Shortly after 1 p.m. on Thursday the Israeli Air Force identified a drone flying in Lebanese airspace south towards Israel. The drone was flying along the coast line.
A squadron of F-16s and IAF helicopters were scrambled to engage the drone.
IDF spokesman Brig-Gen Yoav Mordechai said that after the Air Force ensured that the aircraft was hostile, the commander of the IAF gave the order to shoot it down.
An F-16 fired a missile and struck the drone some five miles from the coast of Haifa over the Mediterranean.
The drone was at 6000 feet when it blew up.
It was not immediately clear whether the drone was armed or not. The IDF was searching for the remains of the drone in the Mediterranean.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that “Israel is prepared to deal with any threat posed from Syria or Lebanon in the air, land or sea.”
He added that he views “with utmost severity the attempt to breach our borders. We will do what it takes to defend our citizens.”
Netanyahu made the comments during a tour of the Druse village of Kfar Julis in the North.
The incursion marked the second such violation of Israeli airspace in the past six months. The IAF shot down a dronesent from Lebanon by Hezbollah over the Negev in October 2012. The drone did not carry explosives and likely had been dispatched on an intelligence- gathering mission, as well as to test Israel’s air defenses.
This is a copy of the full article provided by The Jerusalem Post
