A quadcopter drone sent by Hezbollah over the Lebanese border into Israel shot down last week by Israeli military forces turns out to have had a surprise gift for the Israel Defense Forces: pictures.
The drone, shot down by the IDF last Wednesday (Jan. 5), was installed with a memory card that held photos of operatives and vehicles belonging to the Iranian proxy terror group.
דובר צה"ל בערבית סא"ל אביחי אדרעי מוציא לאור שני פעילי חיזבאללה שהתאמנו בהטסת רחפנים מלבנון במטרה לאסוף מודיעין על פריסת הכוחות בישראל. הרחפן הופל לאחרונה סמוך לגבול ע"י כוח צה"ל וחומר הגלם בתוכו כבר מספק מודיעין של האימונים מהצד השניpic.twitter.com/KXM74YIOYN
— איתי בלומנטל Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental)
The operatives were members of the elite Hezbollah “Radwan” unit, according to Hebrew-language military correspondent Itay Blumental, who works for Israel’s Channel 11 KAN News public broadcaster.
IDF Arabic Spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adre’i said in a statement that two Hezbollah operatives who trained in flying drones from Lebanon to gather intelligence on the deployment of forces in Israel were seen in the photos.
تمكنت قواتنا في الأشهر الأخيرة من إسقاط مسيرة لحزب الله الإرهابي عبرت الحدود تجاه السيادة الإسرائيلية واستخدمت لغايات استخباراتية وجمع معلومات. لقد احتوت المسيرة على صور من تمرين لقوة عسكرية تابعة للحزب تتدرب على تقنية استخدام الطائرات المسيّرة، أظهرت صور مشغليها من عناصر الحزب pic.twitter.com/kjdJelD8iQ
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee)
“The UAV was shot down near the border by an IDF force, and the raw material inside [the drone] has already provided intelligence about the training on the other side [of the border],” Adraee said.
חיזבאללה בתגובה: רק שיחקו פיפ"א בפלייסטיישן https://t.co/pkZ0QBDWId pic.twitter.com/kHvkQvACSV
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987)
In response to the report, Hezbollah said in a brief statement the two operatives see on the memory card “were only playing soccer on a playstation,” Channel 11 Arab Affairs correspondent Roi Kais reported.