quadron 161 (“The Black Snake”) marks its reopening as the only “Zik” Squadron (Hermes 450) in the UAV, absorbing all the “Zik” aircraft from Squadron 166 (“Firebirds”). Taken on 6 December 2020 by Amit Agronov. Source: the Israeli Defense Forces.
On September 9, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that one of its drones crashed in the disputed maritime border with Lebanon as a result of a “malfunction.”
On Twitter, the army said that the drone wreckage was recovered from the sea, adding that an investigation into the accident was launched.
“Aircraft of this type will be grounded until the end of the investigation,” the IDF said without elaborating.
The incident came amid high tensions between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime dispute. The dispute returned to the spot light in June when the Greek-owned Energean Power FPSO [Floating Production Storage Offloading] reached the Karish naval field to extract gas for Israel. Lebanon claims that at least a part of the lucrative field is located within its exclusive economic zone.
The United States mediator in the longstanding maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, announced just a few hours after the incident that the negotiations to resolve the serious conflict have made “very good progress.”
Hochstein arrived in Lebanon early on September 9 for a quick round of talks with top officials including the president, prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker of parliament as well as security officials.
Israel will begin extracting gas from Karish towards the end of September. Hezbollah, the key military player in Lebanon, has already warned Tel Aviv against starting production before an agreement is reached.
The US appears to be in a rush to demarcate the Israeli-Lebanese maritime border in order to prevent a confrontation between the two countries.
- Resolving Lebanese-Israeli Maritime Dispute Is ‘Key Priority’ For Biden: White House Official
- Lebanese Official Says Agreement With Israel On Maritime Dispute Is Near
