Israeli Army: 'Iranian Drone' Shot Down Was Preparing for Attack on Israeli Soil

The Israeli army states that the 'Iranian drone' shot down last February after violating the country's airspace was on a mission to 'attack Israel.' In a statement released on Friday, the Israeli army specifies that following 'intelligence and operational investigations,' it concluded that 'the Iranian drone was equipped with explosives and tasked with carrying out an attack on Israeli territory.' The statement also mentions that by downing this drone, the Israeli army prevented an attack on its soil. This statement was issued after Iran, a key ally of Bashar al-Assad's government, threatened this week to respond to an airstrike on a military base in Syria attributed to Israel. Following the missile attack on Monday, April 8, on the Tiyas or T-4 airbase in Homs province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack resulted in 14 deaths, including several Iranians. Some Iranian media, including the Fars news agency close to the Revolutionary Guards, confirmed the deaths of seven Iranian military personnel in this attack, and later images of their funerals were published in Iranian media. The media coverage of the names of four Iranians in the recent attack attributed to Israel in Syria comes as Iran has remained silent regarding the casualties from Israeli attacks on 'Iranian targets' in Syria two months ago. On February 10, Israel confirmed that it bombed 'several Syrian and Iranian targets' in Syria in response to 'the Iranian drone's incursion from Syrian airspace into Israel.' One of the targets attacked by Israel at that time was the T-4 base in Homs, which, according to Israel, was from where the 'Iranian drone' had taken off. Meanwhile, Iran, in response to the attribution of this drone to itself, stated that Israel has a history of 'lying.' According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, there have been reports of the presence of Iranian and Russian military forces, key allies of Bashar al-Assad's government, as well as Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants at the T-4 airbase. Hezbollah Lebanon previously stated on Friday that Israel had committed a 'historic mistake' by attacking this airbase.