What many Israelis thought was a noisy ufo was actually a new technology owned by one of the Middle East’s most successful terrorist groups.
On April 11, Hezbollah flew an unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) over settlements in northern Israel in violation of Israeli airspace. This was the second successful mission of its type in recent months. Last November, Hezbollah flew a uav from Lebanon into Israeli air space and over the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. After flying undetected for about 30 minutes, the flight ended safely when the uav landed close to the shore on the Lebanese side of the Mediterranean Sea. In an even greater display of defiance against Israel, in its most recent uav flight, Hezbollah successfully flew a Mirsad-1 spy plane over Israeli territory for three hours (Stratfor, April 12).
On Nov. 8, 2004, the day after the first launch, Hezbollah was quick to trumpet its achievement and released a 20-minute video containing footage taken from the uav’s flight. It also claimed that the aircraft could penetrate silently and “deeply” into Israel’s borders.
The Atlantic Monthly highlighted further details of Hezbollah’s uavs: “[T]he aircraft can carry a payload of up to 88 pounds, making it an ‘attractive option’ for launching a covert attack with chemical or biological weapons” (March 2005). 9/11 and this example clearly prove that many terrorist groups have a variety of options besides strapping explosives to the sweaty chest of a suicide bomber in order to attack their targets.
Today’s well-financed terrorist groups are gaining access to some of the most advanced technology around. It is believed that Hezbollah has eight of these uavs. Not surprisingly, Israeli intelligence believes that the uavs were graciously donated to Hezbollah by none other than Iran—the head of the terrorist snake.
The fact that Hezbollah has a number of unmanned aircraft vehicles that could potentially drop chemical, biological or nuclear weapons is frightening—particularly if you live in Israel. More than that, Hezbollah’s uavs disprove the notion that terrorist organizations are mostly backwoods groups that tramp around the desert, moving from cave to cave, fighting battles with broken bottles and primitive explosives.
The military arsenal at the disposal of many terrorist organizations clearly goes much deeper than this. Thanks to nations like Iran, many terrorists have access to some of the most advanced and dangerous technology available. Reports indicate that al Qaeda might already possess a nuclear weapon.
How frightening that these dangerous technologies are making it into the hands of some of the world’s most dangerous and volatile men. Many commentators and government officials say it is only a matter of time before Israel and the United States are attacked by terrorists using these technologies.