The flight over Israel of an unmanned Hezbollah spy plane has deeply embarrassed the Jewish Air Force, which has prided itself for decades on having total control of the region's skies.
"Breach in aerial security. Air force embarrassed. Hezbollah sees all," read Monday's front-page headline in Israel's top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot.
"And what if next time the drone carries a bomb?" asked the daily Maariv.
The Lebanese guerrilla group announced that it had sent the drone over "northern Palestine" (Israel) in retaliation for repeated violations of Lebanese airspace by Israel, deemed "Zionist attacks on Lebanese sovereignty".
Hezbollah also warned that it could carry out more such flights.
After several hours of complete silence from the Israeli military about the incident, the army eventually confirmed the flight over its territory.
"This morning, an Iranian UAV (unmanned air vehicle) operated by the Hezbollah terror organisation infiltrated into Israel over the western Galilee," a military spokesman said.
The army said the spy plane, launched from southern Lebanon, flew for about 15 minutes along Israel's northern Mediterranean coast until it reached the coastal resort of Nahariyah.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1237369.htm