BICOM

A senior Iranian member of parliament yesterday claimed that Tehran has gathered images of Israeli military bases filmed by a Hezbollah drone which entered Israeli air space earlier this month.

Ismaeil Kosari, who also heads the Iranian parliament defence committee, told an Iranian news agency that the unmanned aircraft, launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon, revealed images of Israeli military bases, saying “The pictures of forbidden sites taken and transmitted by this drone are now in our possession.” Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said that the drone was manufactured in Iran and assembled in Lebanon. Kosari also claimed that Hezbollah is equipped with even more sophisticated drones, but gave no further details.

In related news, an unnamed Israeli army officer, speaking to Reuters, outlined plans to tackle Hezbollah should another conflict break out between the two sides in southern Lebanon. The officer said that in comparison to the 2006 conflict, Israel would be likely to launch a ground offensive involving tanks and troops “very early on,” rather than relying on initial air power. He also said that there is “more than one Hezbollah cell” in around 240 villages in southern Lebanon, some of which include guerrilla bunkers, launch pads and arms caches. The officer reportedly added that the use of cluster bombs in any future conflict would be “much reduced, significantly reduced.” He also expressed the hope that the Lebanese government would rein in Hezbollah should tensions flare once again with Israel.