| Hezbollah seems to have discovered an absolutely ducky way to nudge the Israelis into bombing the crap out of them... |
he chief of Hezbollah said yesterday that the Shiite Muslim movement possessed drones that can carry explosives to strike targets deep inside Israel if the Jewish state attacks Lebanon. "I confirm what the Israeli chief of staff has said, Mirsad I can carry explosives of about 40 and 50 kilograms (around 100 pounds)," Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told a rally marking Jerusalem Day in Baalbek, 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 Hezbollah stronghold.
| The Israelis, of course, are expected to sit around scratching their yarmulkes and saying things like "What are we going to do now, Moshe?" |
Nasrallah said "Israel monitors Lebanon from the air to aggress it, and we can monitor bases, airports, settlements, installations and the infrastructure in northern Palestine (Israel) in order to defend our country." Nasrallah said Hezbollah'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. "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."
| "... at least until the carpet bombing begins. Then we'll holler for the UN and the EU to make it stop." |
Nasrallah said Mirsad I was built by Hezbollah experts, and not by Iranian expertise as claimed by Israeli military officials. "Hezbollah has been working on Mirsad I for years, and it has been made by engineers from the Islamic Resistance (Hezbollah's military wing) who are now developing it," he said. "It is a surveillance plane made from technology that can be purchased at exhibitions," he said. "We do not need anybody's help in that sector," he added.
| Iran, on the other hand, sez it gave Hezbollah eight drones and taught them to use them. But we all know how they lie. They just want to take the credit for this incredible military success for themselves... |
The United Nations, which repeatedly denounces Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, said the incursion by the Hezbollah 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 Hezbollah had "turned to this method because international protests have not succeeded in putting an end to Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace." And Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said he was "surprised that Israel should express such concern when its planes violate Lebanese airspace all the time". |
