Iran has admitted that it supplied Hezbollah with the drone that penetrated Israeli airspace on Sunday, according to a report on Thursday in the London-based Arabic-language Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper. A senior member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the drone was one of eight unmanned airborne vehicles manufactured in Iran that were transferred to Hezbollah last August, along with surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 70 kilometres and anti-aircraft shells. He spent several months in Lebanon training members of Hezbollah's 'technology warfare' unit in using innovative technologies and reported that Iran had flown similar drones over Iraq to monitor American military activity there, according to the paper.
The Hezbollah drone that entered Israel on Sunday flew at low altitude over Nahariya, then turned seaward. It fell into the Mediterranean as it approached the Lebanese coast, and was retrieved by fishermen and handed over to Hezbollah operatives, the paper said. The drone, known as the Mheger 4 in Iran, was renamed by Hezbollah Mirsad 1 (meaning 'ambush' or 'espionage'). Hezbollah announced it has several other similar drones, but senior officials interviewed by Arabic media declined to comment on the drone's technical specifications "so as not to alleviate Israel's embarrassment," the Arabic language paper said. The newspaper quoted the Iranian source as saying that the drone was outfitted with three cameras, digital radar, and a transmitter. With an engine capacity of close to 10 horsepower, the drone can fly at an altitude of 6,000 feet and reach a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour. The paper says Iran is now developing a more advanced model, the Mheger 6, that will be able to fly at an altitude of 10,000 feet and reach 160 kilometres per hour. Iran has developed four types of drones so far. Haaretz reported on Tuesday that Iranian military personnel were present at Hezbollah's command centre during the drone's flight over Israel. |
