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Iranian Drone Shot Down in February by Israeli Air Force Was Carrying Explosives for Direct Attack
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by Algemeiner Staff and Agencies
Drones manufactured for Iran’s IRGC on display at a military aviation conference in Tehran. Photo: Reuters / Raheb Homavandi.
Israel said on Friday that an Iranian drone shot down in February by its air force had been fitted with explosives intended to carry out the first direct attack on Israeli territory by the Tehran regime.
The IDF said that after analyzing the flight path and investigating the drone, it “concluded that the Iranian UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was armed with explosives and was tasked to attack Israel.”
By intercepting the drone, the military said, “combat helicopters prevented the attack Iran had hoped to carry out in Israel.”
“The UAV was identified and tracked by Israeli defense systems until its destruction, effectively eliminating any threat the Iranian UAV posed,” it said.
The drone was downed on Feb. 10. It had been sighted taking off from a base in Syria and was intercepted after it crossed into Israeli airspace, the IDF said.
#Breaking #IDF announces that following a thourough investigation it has concluded that the #Iranian drone intercepted on February 10, was loaded with explosives and was supposed to attack Israel. pic.twitter.com/VyDucRH2gr
— Lt. Col. (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) April 13, 2018
Israeli planes then struck an Iranian installation in Syria from which, the IDF explained, the unmanned aircraft had been operated.
An F-16, one of at least eight Israeli planes that had been dispatched, was hit by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile and crashed in northern Israel.
Friday’s revelation by the IDF came one day after a bloodcurdling threat to “destroy Israel” by a top adviser to the Islamist regime’s “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“If Israel wants to continue its treacherous existence … it should avoid stupid measures. If they give excuses to Iran, Tel Aviv and Haifa will be destroyed,” cleric Ali Shirazi said on Thursday according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
“Iran can destroy Israel,” Shirazi — Khamenei’s representative to the Quds Force, the espionage and paramilitary wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) — claimed.
