The Israeli army announced yesterday that it intercepted three "unarmed" drones, and the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" published a video documenting the operation. However, the Party did not disclose the fate of those drones, but indicated that the required mission was accomplished, meaning that all the information gathered through the drones is now in its possession. The Israeli military spokesperson reported fears of further attacks from the Party, revealing that Barak missiles fired from a warship downed two of the drones, while a fighter jet shot down the third.
The Greek company "Energean," which operates the floating gas platform in the disputed Karish field between Lebanon and Israel, confirmed that its ship is safe, following Hezbollah's launch of unarmed drones toward the mentioned offshore field on Saturday. In this context, the new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced this morning that Hezbollah continues to undermine Lebanon's ability to reach a border demarcation agreement through terrorist means. He added that the drones attempted to target Israeli facilities in Israeli economic waters.
The most important message from this, as clarified by party sources to "Akhbar Al-Yawm" agency, was clear to the Israelis: First, that they cannot start gas drilling in the Karish field before the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel are completed. Second, to confirm that Line 29 is a contested line, indicating that a military equation will include it in the upcoming phase. Third, by sending three unarmed drones, there is a message to internal adversaries showing that the Party is not inactive, and another message to Israel that it can reach Karish - and the three ships in question are equivalent to the three drones.
Additionally, intelligence reports suggest that Israel raised its security alert level after the incident, having received the strong message from Hezbollah, amidst fears that this could lead to a full-scale confrontation with Israel. However, referring back to the speech by Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, where he stated that the Party's position is to defend Lebanon's rights, considering that the spirit of resistance cannot refrain from any action as long as the agreement has not been reached and as long as Israel continues on its extraction path. Nevertheless, the question remains: has the Party prepared to prevent Israel from drilling, thus playing on the fire line of the Karish field?
