According to the expert in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles Denis Fedutinov, on Saturday, November 11, over the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights, the Israeli Patriot Patriot battery could have shot down a Russian-made unmanned reconnaissance aircraft "Pchela" belonging to the Russian army.
"Firstly, these UAVs had already been observed in the sky of Syria, that is, they were definitely present at this theater of operations. Secondly, according to available data, these UAVs were previously sold to Syria. Other Russian drones of a smaller class. But it is unlikely that such means of air defense of Israel would be used against them, "said the editor of UAV. ru Denis Fedutinov editorial office NEWSru. co. il.
In the press service of the IDF, no new comments have yet been given. Earlier, Western agencies referring to Israeli army sources reported that the UAV was shot down by Russian production. However, the press service of the IDF does not officially confirm this.
The media published information that the Israeli military before the attack received confirmation from the Russian military in Syria that they were not armed with a drone that appeared near the border of Israel. In the IDF, this is not commented on.
It is known only that the Patriot missile struck the target. Theoretically, the UAV of the Syrian army could be either Russian or Iranian. It is also possible that it could be launched not by the Syrian military, but by the fighters of Hezbollah,. The Russian "Bee" differs noticeably from all known Iranian drones operating in the sky over Syria.
Commenting on this incident, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel takes very seriously any attempts to violate its sovereignty and will react toughly to any provocation. "We will not allow the Shiite axis to gain a foothold in Syria, turning it into an attacking bridgehead against us," said Avigdor Lieberman.
Recall that on September 19 this year, the Air Defense of the IDF was shot down by a Hizbollah drone, launched from the territory of Syria and was in the airspace of Israel.
It is noteworthy that back in April 2013, long before the Russian military intervened in the fighting in Syria, where the civil war has been going on since the spring of 2011, the "Bee", launched from Lebanese territory, could be shot down near Haifa. This version was then discussed by the magazine Israel Defense. The Israeli media did not exclude that Russian drones somehow fell into the hands of Hezbollah,. But the leadership of Hezbollah declared its non-participation in the launch of this UAV.
Later, at the beginning of September 2015, a few weeks before Russia's formal intervention in the course of military operations in Syria, the Jabhat al-Nusra group distributed photos on the social networks that were made to the west of the Syrian city of Idlib. In these pictures, it was seen how military aircraft of Russian production are circling in the sky over the area of ??military operations, including the reconnaissance drones "Pchela-1T". But then there were very few people who doubted that it was a Russian, not a Syrian, aircraft.