Beirut (AP) – Israeli military jets made several low flights over Beirut while reconnaissance drones also flew over Sunday, in what has become a daily occurrence.
Israel regularly violates Lebanon’s airspace, often to carry out attacks on neighboring Syria. On Christmas Eve, Israeli jets flew low until late at night, terrifying Beirut residents who are no strangers to these flights. They were followed by reports of Israeli attacks in Syria.
The frequency of low-flying warplanes over the capital has intensified in the past two weeks, making residents nervous about the increased tension in the region in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“When the drone leaves, warplanes come. When warplanes leave, drones return. They saw us in our PCs, filmed us in our PCs and watched us in our PCs. And now ”, joked Twitter user Areej_AAH.
“Of all the types of panic I have experienced in life in Beirut, the panic that accompanies Israeli warplanes flying so low in Beirut is very special,” tweeted Rudeynah Baalbaky, who said he brought back memories of the 2006 war with Israel .
Israel rarely comments on these reports.
Many fear the conflict could break out in the area before Trump stepped down in retaliation for the death of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in the US in Iraq last year, or to stop efforts by Joe Biden’s new government to negotiate with Iran.
On Friday, the Lebanese army registered an Israeli flight that lasted almost six hours in the south of the country.
A Twitter account that tracks aircraft movements in the Middle East, Intel_Sky, has recorded dozens of Israeli jets flying over Lebanon, including simulated attacks, since the beginning of the year. Intel_Sky called Sunday’s flights “simulated invasions”.
At one point this summer, the Lebanese army said Israel had breached its airspace almost 30 times in two days, flying reconnaissance planes and planes over Lebanese territory.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon says Israel enters Lebanese airspace daily, violating UN resolutions and the country’s sovereignty.
Between June and October 2020, UNIFIL recorded a daily average of 12.63 airspace violations, totaling 61 hours and 51 minutes of flight time, a significant increase from the previous four months. Drones were responsible for approximately 95% of the violations, UNIFIL said.
Israel and Lebanon are technically at war. Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group backed by Iran, is a sworn enemy of Israel and the two had a series of clashes, including a large-scale war in 2006.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a year-end interview, said Israel’s efforts to curb its group’s ability to acquire precision-guided missiles had failed. He boasted that Hezbollah now has twice as many missiles as it did last year.
Israel has expressed concern in recent months that Hezbollah is trying to establish production facilities to make precision-guided missiles.