Video appears to confirm use of attack drones by Hezbollah

Footage shows terror group dropping cluster bombs on Syria rebel positions from UAV, years after it first boasted of drone capability.

https://youtu.be/MLnRt9CZz58

Newly released footage from fighting in Syria has given a first glimpse into a seemingly new addition to the arsenal of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah: attack drones.

The video, released on social media on Tuesday by a Hezbollah-affiliated media outlet, appeared to show the unmanned aerial vehicle dropping cluster bombs on three Syrian rebel positions, in support of the Syrian regime in the countryside surrounding Aleppo.

While Hezbollah, along with some other terrorist groups, have been known to operate pilotless drones for reconnaissance purposes or in kamikaze-style strikes for over a decade, this video is the first visual evidence that the Iran-backed organization has used UAVs capable of carrying out bombings.

The group has claimed to have this capability for nearly two years. In September 2014, the Iranian Fars news site reported: “Hezbollah drones for the first time bombed the headquarters of the terrorist al-Nusra Front at Lebanon’s border with Syria, killing and wounding tens of the terrorists.”

Iran first outfitted the Shiite group with drones back in 2002. Three years later, Hezbollah used one of those UAVs, a Persian model known as an Ababil, to enter Israeli airspace and conduct a reconnaissance mission, much to the chagrin of the Israeli Air Force.

Read More: The Times of Israel

Featured Image – Pieces of a Hezbollah drone that was shot down by the Israeli Air Force several years ago (Israel Defense Forces/Wikimedia Commons) – The Times of Israel