Iranian drones intercepted in Iraq last month were programmed to attack Israel, the defense establishment announced Monday, lifting a gag order on the incident.
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On Feb. 13, Iraqi news outlets reported that an international coalition had intercepted drones that were spotted arriving from the direction of the country's eastern border, flying toward Erbil. According to the reports, the coalition announced that they posed a danger to its personnel.
An airstrike in Iran in February caused heavy damage to the Revolutionary Guards Corps' UAV program. The regime in Tehran attributed the strike to Israel.
Last week, news outlets in the Arab world reported a series of hostile actions between Israel and Iran on both sides of the Iraqi-Iranian border. News outlets identified with the Iranian axis claimed that Israel was using military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq.
Approximately two weeks ago, the Lebanese news network Al-Mayadeen, identified with Hezbollah and the Iranians, reported that Israel was maintaining 20 or so operational bases in the autonomous Kurdish region, close to the Iranian border. The report quoted a senior official in the IRGC.
At roughly the same time, Israel confirmed that a year ago, the Israeli Air Force had shot down two UAVs deployed from Iran to the Gaza Strip. Israel said the UAVs had been carrying a small number of guns, and appeared to have been deployed as a trial balloon in Iran's attempts to create a new channel between Iran and the Palestinians.
The Iranian UAVs were launched from Iran and flew at a low altitude for an extended period of time before they were supposed to reach Gaza and drop their loads. It appeared that the original plan called for them to turn around and fly back to Iran, but Israeli fighter jets shot them out of the sky before they entered Israeli airspace.
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