The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah confirmed Thursday that it sent a drone into Israel that was later shot down last week.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shia group Hezbollah, said that the Iran-made drone flew over sites in Israel, including “important locations,” according to Now Lebanon, which posted a transcript of an interview he had given on Hezbollah’s television station.
“The drone was not Russian made, but Iranian. It was [assembled] in Lebanon,” he continued. “The drone took off in the specified trajectory for hundreds kilometers and arrived in an area close to the [Israeli] Dimona [nuclear] plant.”
Also, it was only “natural and expected” of Israel to shoot the unmanned aircraft down, he said.
Nasrallah’s confirmation comes just hours after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of flying the drone over Israeli territory.
Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel would “act with determination to defend its borders at sea, on air and land,” reported the Jerusalem Post.
The drone was not able to gather intelligence or harm Israel’s air defense reputation, said Amos Gilad, the policy director of the Defense Ministry, according to the Jerusalem Post. He said it was spotted from far away and was shot down when it was over an uninhabited area.
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