Iran Press/ Middle East: The Zionist regime media reported that the Zionist army is concerned about what it describes as "a significant change in the concept of air defense by Hezbollah in Lebanon, following the party's doubling of the number of air defense systems in its possession, in an attempt to restrict the freedom of action of the Zionist regime Air Force in Lebanon."
Maariv newspaper reported on Friday that the Zionist army considers "Hezbollah's decision to restrict the Zionist regime Air Force with available Russian air defense systems, SA8 and SA22, is a fundamental change in Hezbollah's strategic concept, within which attempts are being made to restrict the Zionist regime Air Force's freedom to operate during normal hours."
The newspaper added that Tel Aviv estimates indicate that Hezbollah "doubled the amount of air defense systems in its possession during the last five years."
It pointed out that "the improvement of these capabilities by Hezbollah is ongoing and this is expressed, according to the Zionist regime estimates, in the availability of these systems for rapid use and in accordance with the decision of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah."
The Zionist regime security service believes that "the attack by a drone, in August 2019, of a facility in a building in the heart of the southern suburbs of Beirut, the stronghold of Hezbollah, which has been described as a facility to improve the accuracy of missiles, initiated the turning point in Hezbollah's strategy, and the threat by Nasrallah at the time to "start shooting down the Zionist regime drones."
According to the newspaper, "Hezbollah implemented this threat two months later when it fired a SA8 missile at a Zionist regime Hermes 450 drone, which was on an intelligence-gathering mission, but the missile missed the target."
The newspaper claimed that the Zionist regime army "monitored the vehicle from which the missile was launched, and requested to target it, but the Zionist regime political level, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu did not approve of this, in anticipation of an escalation."
The newspaper added that the Zionist regime army "views this event as extremely important for the future and that it motivated Nasrallah to show other field capabilities. This was followed by three attempts by Hezbollah to shoot down the Zionist regime drones."
Afterward, the Zionist regime army discussed "the possibility of targeting Hezbollah's air defense systems, then removed this issue from its agenda, while Hezbollah enhanced its arming with air defense systems," said the newspaper.
Last Monday, Hezbollah announced that it had shot down a drone that infiltrated Lebanese airspace in the Azziya valley near the southern Zibqin. The party's media outlet confirmed the downing of the drone in a brief statement, without mentioning other details about the incident.
Read more:
Hezbollah says it downs Israeli drone in southern Lebanon
The spokesman for the Zionist regime army also admitted to the drone being shot down in a brief statement in which he said, "A drone was downed in Lebanese territory during a routine activity, and there is no fear of information being leaked."
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