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More on drone attack on Israeli patrol boat
The blast caused a fire on board the ship, which had been stationed 16 kilometers off of the coast of Lebanon. After the fire was extinguished, it became clear that four soldiers were missing. Their families were notified soon thereafter. Israel Defense Forces teams, with the help of planes, helicopters and additional vessels, were searching for the missing troops at the site of the blast. The ship was towed back to Israel. The incident occurred at around 8:30 P.M., causing a fire close to the helicopter landing pad onboard. The ship's steering mechanism also sustained some damage. Several hours after the vessel was hit, an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said the damage was worse than originally thought. There were some 80 soldiers on board the ship when it was hit. An army spokeswoman said later that Hezbollah continued to target Israeli vessels with a barrage of rockets after the hit, but missed and struck a civilian ship. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said earlier Friday that the militant organization had sunk an Israel Navy ship off the Lebanese coast. "Now in the middle of the sea, facing Beirut, the Israeli warship that has attacked the infrastructure, people's homes and civilians - look at it burning," Nasrallah said in remarks broadcast live shortly after an Israel Air Force strike on Hezbollah's Beirut headquarters. Hezbollah has never before used a remote-controlled unmanned aircraft to attack Israel. But in a signal of its growing capabilities, the guerrilla group has twice managed to fly spy drones over northern Israel in recent years. The drones caused great concern in Israel because they evaded the country's air defenses.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-07-15 |
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