Just over Israel’s northern frontier, the Lebanese army opened fire toward a number of Israeli drones reportedly conducting a reconnaissance mission in the Arab Republic’s airspace. In confirmation of the incident to TV7, the IDF Spokesperson said, “shots were heard from Lebanese territory towards an air space in which IDF drones were operating.”
Despite the Lebanese fire by means of assault rifles, however, the drones completed their mission and no IDF damage was reported.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) does not possess surface-to-air missile systems, thus diminishing their vow to down Israeli aircraft to that of hollow threats. Toward that end, Iran has been evaluating the possibility of transferring anti-aircraft weaponry to the Western-backed LAF, and separately to the Islamic Republic’s Lebanese-proxy Hezbollah. The Ayatollah Regime’s offer to the Beirut government was initially conveyed during a visit by Tehran’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif in February earlier this year. Just one day later, Hezbollah Secretary Hassan Nasrallah called on Lebanese leaders to accept the Iranian proposal, while stressing how it would grant the country vital tools to confront Israeli aircraft. At the time, Nasrallah asserted that Syria and Iraq were benefitting significantly from their own acceptance of Iranian help, while stressing that “whatever (weaponry) the Lebanese Army requires to become the strongest regional force…” “…Hezbollah is willing to go to Iran and bring it.”