Iran Press/Middle East: Ali Shaib, a photographer for Al Manar TV, tweeted photos of the advanced Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon. While the planes could not immediately be identified as belonging to the Israeli Air Force, Israel does routinely flies over Lebanon as part of its ongoing efforts to collect intelligence on Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Shaib mistakenly identified the planes as F-15 fighter jets but an examination of the photos clearly showed that they were F-35s, the most advanced fighter jet in the Israeli Air Force. He wrote that he had counted six fighter jets.
This is the first time the Israeli military uses F-35 fighter jets to spy on southern Lebanon.
Local sources also reported that the flights took place at high altitudes.
Frequent and illegal violations of Lebanese airspace by Israel take place as the Israeli army has recently declared areas along the border between the occupied territories and southern Lebanon as a closed military zone.
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