Reuters
Hmmm: Israel shoots down unidentified drone
The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean Sea in the area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich. Once it crossed into Israeli air space, it was escorted by air force jets.
At about 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), after it traveled east some 35 miles across Israel’s southern Negev desert, the drone was shot down above a forest in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank, she said.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
IAF Interception of UAV in Israeli airspace
Rebar on October 6, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Good! There is no reason to take chances Irael, no telling who/what it was going to do if it got the chance?
God be with you Israel.
L
letget on October 6, 2012 at 1:04 PM
I am glad they shot it down, but that sure does sound like a test run.
rob verdi on October 6, 2012 at 1:06 PM
^ s/b Israel
L
letget on October 6, 2012 at 1:06 PM
D’kos claims it was ET on a bicycle.
Limerick on October 6, 2012 at 1:07 PM
Was the drone pulling a sign behind it telling Palestinians where to send their Obama campaign donations?
albill on October 6, 2012 at 1:12 PM
I hope it wasn’t ours.
Cindy Munford on October 6, 2012 at 1:13 PM
The iranians?
VegasRick on October 6, 2012 at 1:16 PM
You can bet your bippy if it was ours, dear hill will be sending a nasty gram to Bibi in a nanosecond! If it was ours, wouldn’t the US tell Israel they had one in their airspace? Probably not, bho won’t deal much with Israel?
L
letget on October 6, 2012 at 1:18 PM
LOL.
pambi on October 6, 2012 at 1:20 PM
So THAT’S why Barky was looking down. He was flying the drone with a teeny-tiny remote control.
SouthernGent on October 6, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Hmm… is “flying the drone” a new euphemism ? The “teeny-tiny” part, I get.
gh on October 6, 2012 at 1:31 PM
How do we know that it was unidentified? None of the articles say that the Israelis hadn’t identified it.
blink on October 6, 2012 at 1:31 PM
Look at the video (first comment). I don’t think there will be much left to identify and they clearly knew it wasn’t one of theirs.
gh on October 6, 2012 at 1:34 PM
But we don’t know if the intercepting pilot saw markings or recce’d it by design features or not.
blink on October 6, 2012 at 1:41 PM
Turkey fired back at Syria today.
Obama to intervene soon…must change topic from dire domestic/foreign policy situation. Michelle is beating him up.
Schadenfreude on October 6, 2012 at 1:44 PM
I guess the IDF will tell us if they think we need to know. It was initially spotted over gaza so there aren’t that many choices. Hamas, Egypt or someone floating in the mediterranean? I don’t know what the range of a typical drone is.
gh on October 6, 2012 at 1:46 PM
I actually believe that The Won treats Israel not much differently than Iran. I think he would impose sanctions if he could.
Cindy Munford on October 6, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Cool gun camera footage. Too bad they couldn’t force it down and take it apart to see where it came from. Then again, it may have been booby-trapped (or bubbie-trapped?) so better safe than sorry. I suspect it may have been Iranian since they recently announced they had developed some.
Rixon on October 6, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Someone posted this in another thread:
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-air-force-shoots-down-small-unpiloted-aircraft-131440054.html
gh on October 6, 2012 at 1:59 PM
false flag
Dante on October 6, 2012 at 2:04 PM
I think you mean Syria fired back at Turkey, since Turkey had been supporting the rebels.
Dante on October 6, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Must have been difficult to come across an uninhabited forest in those parts.
bernverdnardo1 on October 6, 2012 at 2:07 PM
Either way artillery shells will compound Barry’s problem.
Limerick on October 6, 2012 at 2:10 PM
How do we know that it wasn’t a US UAV that was doing reconnaissance over Gaza?
blink on October 6, 2012 at 2:15 PM
Strange claim on two different levels.
blink on October 6, 2012 at 2:19 PM
Obama caves to Moscow, ahead of election even.
May he go to Hades. He does not support freedom in the world.
Schadenfreude on October 6, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Not much left of that thing. Hopefully there’s something left to enable finding out its point of origin.
Yakko77 on October 6, 2012 at 2:41 PM
That’s a possibility. The thing was shot down over Israeli territory though.
gh on October 6, 2012 at 2:42 PM
It could have been a US UAV that “lost lock” with the satellite due to jamming or other system failure.
blink on October 6, 2012 at 2:56 PM
They didn’t shoot it down with guns?
I would have thought hitting it with a missile would have made it harder to recover useful intelligence from it (not technology, mind you, but supply chain).
Count to 10 on October 6, 2012 at 3:19 PM
Pretty convenient, wouldn’t you say?
Dante on October 6, 2012 at 3:31 PM
The drone was launched from Lebanon and was Iranian made, operated by Hezbollah. It followed the coast down to Gaza before entering Israeli airspace.
In a sense this launches a new ball game for Israeli security, but I’d be surprised if Hezb did this again any time soon. They’re guaranteed to lose every drone they send into Israeli airspace (or Gazan airspace, for that matter).
J.E. Dyer on October 6, 2012 at 3:37 PM
Agreed. When I saw the video of the drone shwacked with a missile, I wondered, “Why not poke it just enough with the 20mm cannon?”
J.E. Dyer on October 6, 2012 at 3:39 PM
The rounds that missed would have to land somewhere.
Rebar on October 6, 2012 at 4:03 PM
*************** VIDEO *******************
**Gun Camera**
The Associated Press @AP
WATCH: Israeli jets scramble to intercept a drone that crossed into Israeli airspace, shooting it down: http://apne.ws/R1KWyL -MM
===============================================================
Raw: Israel Downs Drone That Entered Airspace
Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AssociatedPress
Israeli jets scrambled to intercept a drone that crossed into Israeli airspace Saturday from the Mediterranean Sea, bringing it down without incident in the south of the country. (Oct. 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD1txumX7G4&feature=youtu.be
canopfor on October 6, 2012 at 4:16 PM
Are you claiming that Israel is lying about this?
Additionally, you obviously don’t know what a false flag operation is.
blink on October 6, 2012 at 4:32 PM