Hezbollah footage shot over Haifa
The Air Force announced late Tuesday that the Hezbollah Hudhud (hoopoe) drone, which flew over Haifa—27 kilometers (17 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border—and filmed its strategic assets, was under surveillance the entire time but was not shot down to avoid panic and injury to civilians.
The footage, released by the Iran-backed terror group, appeared to show Haifa port, including naval vessels docked there, details about the facilities at the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems campus—such as Iron Dome batteries, rocket engine depots, David's Sling air defense facilities and radar.
The drone also filmed the Savioni Yam neighborhood in Kiryat Yam, apartment towers, a commercial center and a supermarket. The footage was likely filmed last week.
Sources told Ynet that Hezbollah launched three drones in total. One was intercepted, another disappeared from radar and is believed to have crashed into the sea and the third completed its reconnaissance mission. According to the sources, the aircraft was a small, unarmed device equipped with a GoPro camera. They noted it would have been downed if it had been an attack drone.
Retired Lebanese general and expert on military strategy and security issues Charles Abi Nader told Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese network Al Mayadeen that the aircraft used by the Shiite terrorist organization was likely an Iranian-made Hudhud 3 drone, an electric aircraft with no thermal or acoustic signature, capable of carrying a variety of cameras, with a maximum speed of 70 kph (43 mph) and a flight time of one hour.
The Defense Ministry allocated hundreds of millions of shekels to develop a technological solution for intercepting such aircraft and stated it could be operational within three months.