REPORT: Israel sets up Patriot missile system for fear of airspace violations

Israel set up the “Patriot” missile system in Carmel Mountains in Haifa, to prevent the penetration of unmanned aircrafts over Israel's airpace. The Patriot missile system is able to shoot down aircrafts from a vicinity of 160 kilometers and missiles 60 kilometers away.           

In this context, an Israeli intelligence report claimed that Hezbollah has dozens of unmanned aircrafts, some of which hold explosives. The Patriot missile system was set up for preventing such aircrafts from targeting Haifa, particularly petroleum refineries and chemical plants.          

While Israel has declared that it has the right to fly its airplanes in Lebanon's airspace under the pretext of controlling the region, some Israeli figures consider that this decision grants legitimacy for foreign aircrafts to fly over Israel.               

On the other hand, Israeli authorities admit that they lack information regarding the capabilities of the unmanned aircrafts owned by Hezbollah. According to their report, Iranian and Russian made aircrafts may be sent to Hamas and other "hostile" organizations.            

These reports have raised the concern of South Israel's residents who spend their time in shelters, after being exposed to intensive shelling coming from Gaza.                

In order to reassure the residents, the Air Force announced that it has taken new measures following the unmanned aircraft incident which took place last Saturday, including strengthening the monitoring and control capabilities, introduction of early warning networks to monitor and detect the movement of missiles and aircraft at low altitudes.


For full LBCI report, please watch the video above