Hezbollah says sent drone to Israel

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BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah Thursday said he sent the drone shot down by Israel Saturday and vowed to send more.

In a televised speech on al-Manar satellite television Thursday, Nasrallah said the Ayyoub drone was Iranian-made and flew over sensitive locations. It was shot down near the Dimona nuclear reactor, he said.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah will send other drones at a time of its choosing, the Lebanese daily The Daily Star said.

"This is our natural right and we will send them whenever we want and this will not be the last time," he said.

Earlier in the day, while touring the border fence in southern Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu named Hezbollah as the group responsible for sending the drone. Netanyahu said Israel "will act with determination to defend its borders at sea, on air and land," just as Israel "thwarted Hezbollah's attempt over the weekend," Israel's Channel 1 television quoted him saying.

Last Saturday the Israeli air force spotted the drone before it entered Israeli airspace and dispatched two fighter jets, which accompanied it for some 20 minutes before shooting it down over the southern Hebron Hills. Special military units collected the fragments from the crash site for investigation. Details of whether it managed to transmit images remains classified.