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Hezbollah posts video of Tal Surveillance balloon after being hit in a drone strike
Hezbollah posted on Sunday images purportedly showing damages caused to an IDF surveillance balloon in a drone attack last week.
Last Wednesday, Hezbollah launched two attack drones at a base near Tiberias, housing the surveillance balloon. It was the farthest attack from the border, some 32 kilometers (nearly 20 miles), since October.
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Hezbollah posts images of the Tal surveillance balloon before and after it was hit in a drone strike last week
On Thursday, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed the Tal surveillance balloon had been hit and said one of the two drones launched by the Iran-backed terror group was shot down. Hagari said that the damage caused did not impact the Air Force's surveillance abilities.
"It is important for the Israeli public to know that the Air Force intercepts unmanned aircraft that breach Israeli airspace every few days," Hagari said. "Not only from Lebanon but from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, as well on all borders."
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Hezbollah posts images of the Tal surveillance balloon hit in a drone strike last week
The Tal system that was put into operation last January aims to detect and alert against the advanced threats in the north. The system that is embedded inside a massive blimp was developed in collaboration with the U.S. and is considered one of the largest of its kind in the world. It is equipped with dozens of specialized cameras, small computers and large data processors. It measures 117 meters (385 feet) in length and weighs several tons.
Its development was spearheaded by the Directorate of Defense Research & Development in the Defense Ministry alongside the U.S. Missile Defense Agency in the Pentagon and TCOM, a private American company that develops and produces aerostat systems. Israel Aircraft Industries developed the radar system used by the Tal balloon.