Israeli forces hacked into a civilian drone that was filming a video clip on the southern Lebanese border for the upcoming annual August 2006 celebration.
According to the National News Agency, vocalist Hasan Alamah and his orchestra were “filming a new anthem inspired by the July 2006 victory in the Panorama area on the road of Adaisseh, along the separation barrier between Lebanon and occupied Palestine.”
In the presence of a large crowd that was watching the video clip’s filming, an Israeli force remotely took hold of the “DJI” quadcopter that had been capturing the video and pulled it into the occupied territories.
The Israeli army later claimed that the drone had “apparently infiltrated from inside Lebanon into the Israeli airspace, where the forces followed and interacted with it through various means.”
The army’s spokesman noted that its forces will “continue to work to prevent any violation of Israeli sovereignty.”
According to Lebanese reporter Ali Shoeib, Israeli forces “electronically took control” of the drone and flew it three kilometers into occupied Palestinian territory.
He posted pictures on his Twitter account, claiming that some of them had been captured by the drone as it was flown by Israeli forces out of the Lebanese airspace.
One of these pictures shows what appears to be an Israeli military Jeep parked by a camouflaged bunker on the side of a street.
Although Lebanon’s southern border has lately been relatively peaceful in terms of direct armed conflict, tensions around the region have not abated as Israeli air, ground, and navy forces regularly violate Lebanon’s sovereignty.
These tensions were recently amplified after Israel announced that it would soon start drilling for oil and natural gas near the disputed Block 9.
The land border’s trees have also contributed to the unease due to them blocking Israel’s spy cameras.